Podcasts about dangerous calling

In this Episode of STREET TALK THEOLOGY, Pastor Dom is joined by his co-hosts in India along with a special guest. They have an insightful conversation about how God can call you to a career in spiritual leadership.You can get Dangerous Calling by Paul David Trip at the links below:AmazonChristianBookBarnes & NobleFor more info about Pastor Dom and the current church he is pastoring use the link below.Desert Sky Baptist!!!Street Talk Theology has a new sponsor!!!Logos Christian Academy is the proud new sponsor of Street Talk Theology. As Casa Grande's premier classical education school, Logos Christian Academy teaches from a biblical worldview, equipping students both academically and spiritually.They are passionate about teaching students HOW to think, instead of what to think. To find out how to enroll, or to simply learn more, visit logosclassical.org

In this Episode of STREET TALK THEOLOGY, Pastor Dom is joined by his co-hosts in India along with a special guest. They have an insightful conversation about how God can call you to a career in spiritual leadership.You can get Dangerous Calling by Paul David Trip at the links below:AmazonChristianBookBarnes & NobleFor more info about Pastor Dom and the current church he is pastoring use the link below.Desert Sky Baptist!!!Street Talk Theology has a new sponsor!!!Logos Christian Academy is the proud new sponsor of Street Talk Theology. As Casa Grande's premier classical education school, Logos Christian Academy teaches from a biblical worldview, equipping students both academically and spiritually.They are passionate about teaching students HOW to think, instead of what to think. To find out how to enroll, or to simply learn more, visit logosclassical.org

Send us a textEver wondered how far we'd go to punish our fellow podcasters, even those serving in the military? Tune in to this hilarious episode of "Entertain This" as we welcome back Nate, affectionately called "Not Hayden," stepping in for our usual co-host Hayden. Nate hilariously recalls his ordeal with the terrible "Space Homeboys," while Mitch shares his torment watching the overly moralistic "Second Glance." We also touch on the unexpected success of Christian films on YouTube, including Nate's own involvement in "Dangerous Calling."Journey through the cinematic legacy of James Bond with us, from his 1962 debut to the modern era. We dive into personal memories of collecting VHS tapes and navigating the series pre-internet, adding a unique touch to the Bond conversation. Daniel Craig's era gets a special mention for its compelling narrative arc and emotional depth, especially with his swan song "No Time to Die." Plus, we dish on how the Bond films have evolved with cultural trends, giving Roger Moore's tenure a mix of critique and appreciation.Hollywood buzz, anyone? We discuss potential new Bonds, the mixed reactions to "Halloween Kills," and a slew of TV, movie, and video game updates. From Hayden Christensen's return in the Ahsoka Tano series to the chaotic zombie battles of "Back 4 Blood," we cover it all. We'll also throw in some horror trivia and personal anecdotes about our favorite horror flicks, leaving you with recommendations and a peek into our family tradition of making horror shorts. This episode is a rollercoaster packed with laughter, nostalgia, and the latest entertainment news!Call Me By Your Gamea nostalgic video game podcastListen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the show

Christians are sent to boldly declare the name of Christ, no matter the personal cost.

When an up-and-coming defense attorney is murdered in her office, her colleagues vow to seek justice and "make this right."

In this Episode of STREET TALK THEOLOGY, Pastor Dom is joined by his co-host in India along with a special guest. They have an insightful conversation about how God can call you to a career in spiritual leadership.You can get Dangerous Calling by Paul David Trip at the links below:AmazonChristianBookBarnes & NobleFor more info about Pastor Dom and the current church he is pastoring use the link below.Desert Sky Baptist Church Street Talk Theology is now sponsored!!!MyPillow loves Pastor Dom's content, so they have graciously decided to partner with Street Talk Theology so we can continue to take theology and bring it to the streets!To get amazing deals on all the products that MyPillow makes, and support Street Talk Theology, click the link below and use promo code: STREETTALKMypillow.com

In this Episode of STREET TALK THEOLOGY, Pastor Dom is joined by his co-host in India along with a special guest. They have an insightful conversation about how God can call you to a career in spiritual leadership.You can get Dangerous Calling by Paul David Trip at the links below:AmazonChristianBookBarnes & NobleFor more info about Pastor Dom and the current church he is pastoring use the link below.Desert Sky Baptist Church Street Talk Theology is now sponsored!!!MyPillow loves Pastor Dom's content, so they have graciously decided to partner with Street Talk Theology so we can continue to take theology and bring it to the streets!To get amazing deals on all the products that MyPillow makes, and support Street Talk Theology, click the link below and use promo code: STREETTALKMypillow.com

In today's episode, we're going to listen to another session from Paul's conference Dangerous Calling: Confronting The Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry. In it, Paul gives us the solution to the danger of fear we looked at in episode 536. To listen to parts 1, 2, and 3, check out The Paul Tripp Podcast episodes 527, 531, and 536.If you enjoy today's content, you can purchase the full conference at PaulTripp.com/DangerousCalling.

In today's episode, we're going to listen to another session from Paul's conference Dangerous Calling: Confronting The Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry. In it, Paul shows us another danger that we need to be aware of: the danger of fear.To listen to parts 1 and 2, check out The Paul Tripp Podcast episodes 527 and 531. If you enjoy today's content, you can purchase the full conference at PaulTripp.com/DangerousCalling.

In today's episode, we're going to listen to another session from Paul's conference Dangerous Calling: Confronting The Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry. In it, Paul demonstrates how to combat the danger of familiarity we looked at in session 1. We need to reignite our awe.To listen to part one, check out The Paul Tripp Podcast episode 527.If you enjoy today's content, you can purchase the full conference at PaulTripp.com/DangerousCalling.

In today's episode, we're going to listen to a session from Paul's conference Dangerous Calling: Confronting The Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry. In it, Paul warns us of the danger of familiarity - being so familiar with the truths of God and His word, that we lose our awe of him. If you enjoy today's content, you can purchase the full conference at PaulTripp.com/DangerousCalling.

Forge, Part 4In this message, we read from 2 Timothy 3:1-9. Scripture specifically calls us to be different from the world, to be a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. It's a dangerous calling when we have an enemy that wants us to fall and not follow God. How do we prepare for battle? Get connected through serving at Graystone Church here.Follow along with the series reading plan here.

Pastor Marques Nelson Sermon Theme: "The Holy Ministry is a Dangerous Calling" Text: 2 Timothy 4:1-8 Worship Folder St. Paul's Lutheran Church, North Mankato, MN

Matt Wireman00:00:23 - 00:01:00Welcome to another episode of Off the Wire. This is Matt Wireman and I am so thankful to have with me Dr. Brian Arnold, who is currently serving as the president of Phoenix Seminary. And that is really fun to say. I met Brian while he and I were students at Southern Seminary together. And I believe we had an early church history class on Augustine together, if I'm not mistaken. And I had no idea that guys that I was going to school with were going to be president. So here you go. So I'm really thankful to have you, Brian, on this podcast. And I just wanted to thank you for your time.Brian Arnold00:01:01 - 00:01:03Well, it's great to be with you, Matt. Thanks for asking me on.Matt Wireman00:01:03 - 00:01:24Yeah, so you, we were chatting before we hit the record button and you've been at Phoenix Seminary for five years you say and then just recently have taken the post as present. Can you kind of walk us through what that transition has been like and what you find yourself busying yourself with as opposed to what you found yourself busying yourself with?Brian Arnold00:01:25 - 00:02:55Absolutely. So in 2014, actually, I got a call from a friend of mine, Dr. John Meade, who was also at Southern with us. He was doing his PhD in Old Testament and said, hey, are you looking for a job in academia? And I was pastoring at the time, and I'd love to tell more and more about that if you'd like. And he said, there's a position open to Phoenix. So I applied for it and got the position. We moved across the country in May of 2015, which is not the time to come to Phoenix to get the brunt of the brutal summers. See if you're really committed. That's why you went to Phoenix. Absolutely. And taught in church history and systematic theology for those first couple of years. What I recognized pretty quickly about myself is as much as I love scholarship and I enjoy writing and lecturing, I also noticed, one I've noticed this my entire adult life, even before, is a mentorship and a desire to help make things better. So some of my colleagues are exceptionally gifted scholars, but I always found myself drifting into more meetings and thinking through curricular issues and just noticing, especially at Phoenix Seminary, how much potential I saw here and wanted to maximize that as much as possible. And part of it was I never thought I'd actually get a job even teaching at a seminary. And I wanted to make sure the Phoenix Seminary had every chance it had in this kind of environment to be successful in the long haul. So that's what kind of led me to administration.Matt Wireman00:02:55 - 00:03:10Yeah, so your goal was not to be in higher education. It sounds like you were a pastor when you got that phone call from John. So like, what were you thinking? For one, why did you get the PhD if you knew you were going to be a pastor?Brian Arnold00:03:11 - 00:03:28So I almost had to go all the way back to college when I first got a taste for theology,late high school, early into college and started devouring just different books as I found them. I remember even I was a paramedic major in college and so I was in fire and EMS and.Matt Wireman00:03:28 - 00:03:30Eastern Kentucky, right? Is that where you were at?Brian Arnold00:03:30 - 00:05:43I like to say Harvard of the South, nobody else does. But I had a 500-hour internship program that I had to do over the course of a summer in the back of an ambulance and I was doing for a long time, 24 hours on, 24 hours off. And I wanted something substantive to read and my director for Campus Crusade said, why don't you read this book? It's a big fat systematic theology by a guy named Wayne Grudem. And so I went to Barnes and Noble, bought it. And I remember walking in the parking lot looking and seeing like, wow, Harvard and Westminster and Cambridge. And he teaches at this place called Phoenix Seminary and I've never heard of that before. But I read that that summer and fell in love with even academic theology as well as a couple of my roommates in college. And everyone I knew had gone to Southern Seminary. So that was a no-brainer. I was an hour and a half down the road and went to Southern. And really from my first day there, I remember a guy named Scott Davis was in admissionsat the time. And I said, you know, I'm going to go through the MDiv and get my PhD and I would love to teach someday. And he was like, easy there. He hears that from a lot of people. And he said, you haven't even started the MDiv yet. You don't know how hard that is. And also over that same kind of weekend, the New Student Orientation kind of things, Russ Moore, I was sitting next to him for lunch. And he said, you know, one of the founders of Southern Seminary said, if your greatest desire is not to go into the pastorate, then you probably shouldn't be teaching at a seminary. And I thought, you know, I do have a passion for the local church and I would love to pastor. So I kept those two ideas in my mind of what I kind of wanted to do. And then I was realistic. I knew how many guys go and get a PhD and never get a job in higher education. So I thought the chances of me actually teaching at a seminary are very slim, but I love the study of theology. And I knew that even doing that level of work would improve my communication skills, my ability to read better and to write clearly. And so I was really passionate about getting the PhD and either adjuncting somewhere while I was pastoring or writing or any kind of combination of those things. And there was a school near me where I was pastoring in western Kentucky that actually went out of business the day after I went there to talk to them about teaching, potentially.Matt Wireman00:05:43 - 00:05:46Where were you pastoring at in western Kentucky?Brian Arnold00:05:46 - 00:05:50So it was a little town called Smithland, Kentucky, just outside of Paducah.Matt Wireman00:05:50 - 00:05:51Okay, awesome.Brian Arnold00:05:51 - 00:05:54The school that was down there was called Mid-Continent University.Matt Wireman00:05:54 - 00:05:56Okay, okay. Very familiar with it. Yeah.Brian Arnold00:05:56 - 00:06:24They went out and I had been looking for higher ed jobs the whole time. And I told my wife, if I don't hear anything at this ETS, it was going to be ETS in 2014, I'm not going to pursue higher ed anymore. Well, that's when John Mead reached out and said, hey, are you interested? So I always wanted to go into higher ed. I just, in some ways it was hedging saying, I know that it's unrealistic that I'll actually get a position in higher ed.Matt Wireman00:06:24 - 00:06:27Just because it's such a saturation of PhDs, is that why?Brian Arnold00:06:27 - 00:06:52huge saturation of PhDs, less people are going to seminaries, there's a scaling down.There was just all the confluence of issues that make it that much harder to get into the market. I felt like we're happening. So, I'm a pastor, the Lord is really blessing our work there and it was exciting and I could have done that for an entire career and been really satisfied doing it.Matt Wireman00:06:52 - 00:07:12Mm-hmm. So what was it about Phoenix that you would make a move? I mean, because that's not just, you know, right down the street kind of seminary that like you alluded to.I mean, that's a substantial climate change, but also a substantial cultural change. And so what was it about Phoenix particularly that drew you to even apply?Brian Arnold00:07:13 - 00:07:45Yeah, if I'm just being frank, it was a job. I kept telling my wife, you know, we could be,and I always pick cold places, and we almost went to a school in Montreal, actually.That's a bit of another story, but I was like, it could be Alaska, it could be Maine, it could be Canada, and I never even thought about warmer places, and it ended up being Phoenix, and so it was an opportunity to get my foot in the door and begin teaching. So I knew to find a job in higher education, in seminary education specifically, I was gonna have to be open to moving anywhere.Matt Wireman00:07:45 - 00:07:55Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So you were teaching systematic theology and church history.Well, your major was systematic theology, was it, or was it church history?Brian Arnold00:07:55 - 00:08:00I'm Church History, so I study under Michael Haken and particularly Church Fathers.Matt Wireman00:08:00 - 00:08:23Okay, and then you moved to Phoenix in 2014, became the president. Can you walk us through that process? Like, I mean, that's a big jump. So you found yourself more in administrative type meetings. But what was it, I mean, to go from that to, you know, to go from just being in meetings to being a president is a pretty significant change. So walk us through.Brian Arnold00:08:23 - 00:08:45When I was dean for about two months. Does that count? Say what? That I was dean for about two months before I became president. So yeah, it's a bit of a convoluted story. Our president, who'd been here for 23 years, had even been one of the founders of it back in 1988.Matt Wireman00:08:45 - 00:08:47Dr. Del Husey, is that right? That's right.Brian Arnold00:08:46 - 00:12:05That's right. You have Dr. Darolda who say he had been pastor of Scottsdale Bible Church, which is probably one of the first big mega church churches in America. And so his background was more in church ministry, but he recognized even back in 1988, Phoenix is growing. Most people would be surprised, but it's the fifth largest city in the United States. And so here you have a city that's booming and there's no place to get a seminary education. So all of our best and brightest, most talented pastor candidates are leaving to go to seminary and they don't come back. So we need something here. And we were actually a branch campus of Western Seminary in our founding and they were independent from them around 1994 or so. So I was following a pretty long presidency of Dr. Del Jose, which is already a challenge in and of itself for somebody who's that deeply ingrained here. Now he serves as the chancellor and we've got a great relationship, really thankful for him. But he even recognized that they needed somebody who had more of an academic background to take it to the next level. And hesaid, I'm just waiting for somebody to come in and say they want my job. This is my first six months at Phoenix Seminary. And I walked down to his office, I said, I love your job. And I was just kidding. And I said, I'm kidding about that. I just, I know myself, I see myself more gifted and bent towards administration and leadership. So I would love to be mentored by you and really get to understand what higher education looks like from a leadership position. And so early on in my tenure here, I was really getting involved in the leadership aspects. I helped lead us through a major curriculum change. We had a bunch of two hour classes, we moved to three hour class system. So that gave me a lot of understanding in our workings. And through all that, I was coming up under Bing Hunter, our previous provost and dean, and was kind of gearing up for that position. Well, at the same time, the presidency was coming open. And I wanted to throw my hat in the ring because I see so much potential here. I'm very thankful for where Dr. Del Jose brought us. But I also recognize we really can get to the next level here and establish ourselves as one of the major theological institutions in the West, especially the Southwest. And when you think about where Phoenix is located, we're pretty good distance away from a lot of other seminaries. We're back east, they kind of seem to pile up on top of each other. So there's a lot of even geographically speaking, room here to grow. And to really, I tell all of our team all the time, I'm asking people just to grab some basket and pick the low hanging fruit. I mean, we're here with Arizona State University, which is the largest undergrad, GCU, which is now the largest Christian undergrad,we've got a great relationship with Arizona Christian University. So I saw all these things, I kept thinking, how can we grow this potential? And as the inside guy, I knew where our challenges were, I knew where our threats and our opportunities were. And so I just wanted to make a case to the board and say, as the inside guy, I know how to tweak some dials right now, they can get us moving in the right direction. And I think it was a long shot. I was a long shot, I think, from the very beginning of the whole process. And from what I understand, just kept kind of making it through to the next level to the next level to the next level until especially I got to be able to presentMatt Wireman00:12:05 - 00:12:08Survive in advance, right?Brian Arnold00:12:08 - 00:13:53It really is exactly what it felt like. But we used Carter Baldwin, which is an executive search firm. When the rep, you get to the round of eight or nine or so, he flies around the country to meet with you wherever you're at. So we flew back out to Phoenix and we sat down to meet for our interview. His very first question, at the time I was 35, he said, you're 35, you don't have much higher education experience. Why now? You're coming into Dean's role. Why not just learn that and climb the ranks that way? I said to him, honestly, for me, it's an issue of gifting. The gifting and skill set, you need to be a really accomplished dean. A lot of times, it's a very different skill set to be a successful president. Deans are a lot of times, they're the ones that are keeping the trains moving and they're really keeping you within the lanes of accreditation and assessment and all those different pieces with the DOE and ATS and ensuring that the institution is healthy from that vantage point. I see myself more as the big picture visionary. I want to be out there preaching. I want to be casting vision. I want to be meeting with donors. Because for me, donor relationships are not only a great opportunity for pastoral ministry, but it's also a chance to just explain what my heart is and vision is for the seminary, and see if they want to partner with us. When I just look at skill set wise, I saw myself having a better skill set for the presidency. I said, that may come across arrogant, I don't mean it to. It really is just about finding the right seat on the bus for each person. I think I could sit in the presidency and do okay. Here we are.Matt Wireman00:13:53 - 00:14:46So here we are. Yeah, well, I know it's very exciting, very exciting. I'm really thankful that you're in that presidency. Because one of the things that I love about your story is that you said you could be totally content serving at a local church. You know, and a lot of times, even within higher education, Christian higher education, even, that there can be this sense of climbing the corporate ladder, you know, paying your dues and then being entitled to being a successor and all these things. But I love that you framed it and saying, I would have been content and happy and would have lived a fruitful life being a pastor in a town that people hadn't heard of, because that's valuable. Because one of the things that's unique about Phoenix Seminary, what's the tagline or the mission statement for Phoenix? This is a quiz. This is a quiz.Brian Arnold00:14:45 - 00:14:48No problem. Scholarship at the Shepherd's Heart.Matt Wireman00:14:48 - 00:15:36Yeah, so I would love for you to reflect on, not only as the president, but as a formerpastor, as someone who has a pastor's heart, a shepherd's heart, what is that relationship that you view, and you could view it in both sides, because you've had both hats on, of what that relationship is between a seminary and the church. So much of the theological fighting that took place in many of the seminaries took place because there was a divorcing of, or a assuming of, roles as opposed to a tight relationship between the seminary and the church. So I'd love for you to just reflect on why the seminary is valuable to the local church, and why then the local church is valuable to a seminary.Brian Arnold00:15:36 - 00:18:31Absolutely. I think we have to begin with what is God's plan for humanity? And a big part of that is the church. Jesus died for his bride. It is the church. That's his plan for the world. That's his mission for the world. And so I think it's important for people in my position now to always remember that we are really the quartermasters. We're the ones behind, we're off the front lines. We're equipping, we're preparing, we're training, we're sending out. But really the battlefield's out there in the mission field of the church. And so I'm very happy to be recognizing my backseat role as a parachurch ministry, helping undergird God's plan for the world. And what helped me with that is that I've been in both worlds. So I realized very quickly in my pastorate that had I not had a seminary education, I would have been in a tough spot. So why is that? Like, yeah. Yeah. So we moved to Smithland in June of 2012. And we already had a vacation that was going to be planned. So we went on that and I'm on the beach on the East Coast. And I get this phone call from one of my deacons and he was a deacon and his dad was a deacon. And he said, Hey, I just want you to know, my father's kidneys are failing. And we don't know what that's going to mean for him. My wife was just diagnosed with breast cancer and my daughter's best friend just committed suicide. And I remember sitting there on the beach thinking, okay, that was the shortest ministry honeymoon in the history of humanity. I haven't even like really landed there yet. And this is already, I'm already recognizing how messy ministry is and you're really entering into broken lives of people. Well, I was going to be preaching through Philippians first off. And here I am at a local small Southern Baptist church in Western Kentucky preaching three times a week, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. And I'd probably preached 10 times total before I took that position. So in my first month, I'm going to be preaching more than I've preached my entire life. And I'm going through Philippians, all of a sudden you get to Philippians two pretty quickly and you get this issue of kenosis. What does it mean that Jesus emptied himself? If I had a seminary training, the background, understanding my Christology, you can get to a text like that. It's going to take you forever to walk through the challenges that present you in that text. But I was so thankful because the seminary education put me that much further ahead, even to my own preparation and study that I was used to exegeting the text when I came totheological challenges. It wasn't the first time I'd seen them or thought through them before. So that actually freed me up to do more ministry in the church because I had a deeper understanding of the text already. Does that make sense? So, yeah.Matt Wireman00:18:29 - 00:19:32Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, you're not having to try to figure out like so many times I talk to guys who, you know, are in the middle of seminary training or haven't had seminary training and then they, yeah, great, great example, Philippians 2, and they're like, I didn'tknow this was an issue. And then they read one guy and they're like, I think I agree with that. And then they read another guy and they're like, I think I agree with that too. And they're like diametrically opposed to each other. And you're like, well, that will make a dramatic effect on how you for one read all of Philippians and then the entire New Testament and those kinds of things. So yeah, I hear you. And along with that, just a little side note, a lot of times people ask, well, how long does it take you to prepare a sermon? It's like, well, you know, each sermon has got, you know, 20 years of teaching behind it, you know, 20 years of education behind it. It's not something that I just kind of whip up over, you know, in a week. It's something that there is a lot of training that's going behind every single sermon. So it's kind of a misnomer to say, well, how long is your sermon prep? It's like, well, it's a couple decades. That's right.Brian Arnold00:19:31 - 00:20:06That's right. Exactly. David Allen Black says the pastor should be like an iceberg. People see the top 10% above the water, but they know that there's 90% below it as well. But I don't know that we've really helped people in the church see just how important that is or they're not connecting those dots. You know, this is not a knock on where I was coming from and I pastor it. But a lot of the pastors in Western Kentucky did not have a theological education. And I knew some of them who'd show up to church on Sunday morning, do like a flip open method of sermon prep, wherever they open the Bible. It's like, Hey, that's.Matt Wireman00:20:05 - 00:20:12like, Hey, that's, you're not, you're not exaggerating. Right? I mean, this is like, cause people joke about that, but there were people actually doing it.Brian Arnold00:20:12 - 00:20:54who did that down the road from where I was a pastor. And just to show you this, this is not to pat myself on the back, it's to pat seminary education on the back. That's right, that's right, that's right. Is I had a guy who my very first Sunday was my sermon I was preaching to get hired at the church. He's about 75, he graduated by the army. And this guy could have taken me. He's a strong, tough guy. And he pulls me to the side and he goes, we don't need a preacher. Those are a dime a dozen. We need a pastor. Do you understand what I'm telling you? And I was like, yes, sir, I know exactly what you mean. And he wanted to know that as I was coming into my late 20s, that I was going to love people, be there with them, to walk through suffering. Absolutely. I mean, that's my heart. I want to do that.Matt Wireman00:20:22 - 00:20:23That's right, that's right, that's right.Brian Arnold00:20:54 - 00:22:52Same guy, we have a great relationship, but he's not much of a talker over the next three years while I'm pastoring. My very last Sunday, he grabs me again and pulls me to the side. I doubt he even remembered that initial conversation. And he said to me, I've been in the church for 50 years, and I've never learned as much or gone deeper in my walk with Christ or understood the Bible as much as I have these last three years. I only tell that story to say, and I'll tell this to my students, is don't underestimate the power of opening God's Word and preaching through it in an expository way. God will change lives doing that. But it was my seminary education that helped me do that. And even if my church couldn't articulate it, it's like, why is our church... We were growing in a really healthy way. Other churches, you could tell people were like, okay, these people at Smith and First are really getting fed. And I wasn't sitting there drawing the lines all the time for them. But when I left, I tried to help encourage the deacon saying, think about what you said about the preaching ministry here is because I was seminary trained. So go back to that pond and fish again. Because I knew quite literally, there's a couple thousand people just down the road who love the Lord, are committed to the gospel, and have the right type of training to do it. So now on my side of things, that makes me even more passionate, having been a pastor for a couple years, knowing what I needed in the pastorate. And now I can help deliver and train that for other people who are now... You're starting to see students come back and say, oh my goodness, you're right.This is having a significant impact on my ministry. I see guys here, Matt, who have been in ministry for 20 years who are now coming back and getting seminary education, who are lamenting that. And they're saying, I put the cart before the horse. I really wish I had known 20 years ago what I know now. My ministry would have been different.Matt Wireman00:22:52 - 00:24:16Yeah. Well, I'd like to revisit this relationship between the church and the seminary and just your diagnosis of why there is, in some ways, you know, a dumbing down of the pastorate in some ways of where people are like, we don't need all that education. It's like, well, I don't know why the person has to have a Southern accent. You know, Southerners, we get beat up on sometimes. But, you know, you want to say you can preach, period. Like there's a beauty in saying, you know, if God has called you to preach, preach. And yet at the same time, we want to bridle that horse up and be able to say there's a lot of good here. But I just have found like a lot of times people are very quick, and I'm sure medical doctors get this too and lawyers get this too, where people are like, I know you studied for like 20 years, but I read this. I've got a webMD. Yeah, exactly. And a lot of times that happens at the church too, but in some ways, we havebeen the cause of that problem by saying education is not important. So I'd love for you to just kind of tease out a little bit more like how you see the seminary serving the local church.Brian Arnold00:24:16 - 00:27:36Absolutely. And this argument is trotted out quite a bit, but I think it's important. Andyou kind of said it there, people expect their doctors and lawyers to have a certain levelof training because what they're doing is of great importance. How much more the careof souls, the shepherding of people's eternity, and for people to know and understand things. Yeah, there's been a historic challenge here, at least in the last couple of hundred years between the seminary and the church. And when you think back over time, a lot of the people who were most theologically trained were week in and week out pastors. If you think about the Reformation, you think about people like Martin Luther and John Calvin, these guys were pastors who were also leaders in theology. It's really not almost until the Enlightenment where you begin to see a wedge put between the seminary and the church as higher education because of its own kind of thing, where you might have seminary professors who have not been pastors before. And so I think that even then leads further to people seeing a greater divide between them. I think it's everybody kind of knowing those places. So as I mentioned before, recognizing, yes, the church is God's purpose for the world, but there's substantial training that a pastor must have in order to faithfully execute that office. It's a high office that God has called upon. When you think about somebody like Paul man, right, he's converted. He's already well-trained and yet he secludes himself kind of more training. Even think about the apostles before they're sent off in Matthew 28. Jesus is with them for three years. I mean, that's a pretty solid seminary education that they're receiving. And Christian history for the last 2,000 years has been deeply invested in education and recognizing that we are touching sacred things and people need to know those. And so if seminaries recognize their parachurch status more and the recognition that local churches simply cannot do what seminaries can do. I know very few churches, maybe if any, where you have somebody you could teach Greek, Hebrew, systematics, church history, evangelism and discipleship, world missions, all the different things that you kind of get from a seminary education, local church can do this. So the idea is, right, there's a hub of education that many churches can pour into and get trained from and then they get sent back out to their churches. Working together in tandem like that with the recognition that a seminary should be chosen by a student if that seminary is deeply invested in the work of the local church. I mean, if they're not and they're just actually a think tank or an ivory tower, then don't go there. But if a seminary is actually saying, look, our heartbeat is for the local church, that is what God has given us. All we want to do is give you those tools that you can't get from the local church and let us equip you in those ways and then we'll send you right back. Hopefully, we're on fire for God. Hopefully, deeper in their ability to handle the text, more aware of how to do actual practical ministry, all these different pieces so that they don't get this divided. I mean, the saddest stories are oh, Johnny was a great preacher before he went to seminary or, you know, Bill was so in love with the Lord and then he went to seminary.Matt Wireman00:27:36 - 00:27:44What happens to those guys? Why is that sometimes part of the narrative, you think?Brian Arnold00:27:45 - 00:28:43It's a great question. Partly, I often wonder if it's a straw man kind of argument. I mean, you and I were at Southern Together. When I think back, whenever I'd hear people talk bad about seminary, and I'm thinking, I'm with these guys who love the Lord and are bringing their education to the pew week in and week out. I never understood that. I never understood why people say those things. And chances are, a lot of times it was going to be a person who was going to be a bad fit for ministry anyway. Seminary can't, if I can say this, maybe you'll have to edit this part out later, I don't know. But seminary cannot take a weirdo and make them not a weirdo. Right? Seminary can't take somebody who has no actual gifting from the Lord in pastoral ministry and somehow do that. I mean, there's spiritual gifts involved in this as well. Sometimes I think seminaries unfairly bear the brunt of criticism that we're not responsible for.Matt Wireman00:28:43 - 00:29:53Yeah, and in some ways, like people, you know, one of the things at Southern, and I don't know if Phoenix does this or not, I'd like to know, but you know, you have to get a reference from your church that you're a member at. And I think, and I'm afraid that many churches are not doing the hard work of saying, hey, brother, you probably need to get some humility before you go to seminary because there'll be some classes and I know you were in these classes too, not you, you weren't doing this, but there were guys in classes, I was like, I would never be a congregant in that man's church because he is abrasive, he is proud and everyone sees it. And then the seminary is supposed to miraculously just say, hey, you shouldn't be a pastor. It's like, that's not the seminary's job. It's just really frustrating that, you know, the talking heads or the, you know, the heads on a stick as it were, that gets to be the misnomer for seminaries when in fact, it's taking, you know, what Paul said, a fan in the flame, the gift that was given to you and how you do that, well, you put more fodder on the fire and how you do that, you get more training, you get more education to be able to do that.Brian Arnold00:29:54 - 00:31:24Absolutely. Yeah, they should be people that the church is already saying, we see the call of God on your life. And, you know, one of the ways this does go sideways sometimes, Matt, and this is a sad situation is where people are deeply involved and invested in their local church. People do recognize the gift that God has given them. They want them to fan it into flame. They recognize their need for education. They go to seminary and they stop being that involved in their local church. That happens, I think that's a record for disaster, right? So, one of the things that I'm passionate about as a president here is even mentoring. So, one of the things that I did love about Phoenix Seminary as soon as I came here is that every student has a mentor. And I've not really seen that in other seminaries before. And that's one of the areas we're going to be investing in a lot more in the next year or two. But I think about even these books on pastoral calling. The one that always sticks out to me is Paul David Tripp's, Dangerous Calling. And on the original cover, there's five endorsements on the back. Three of them aren't in ministry anymore. On a book on how dangerous pastoral ministry is. So, why are we seeing all these ministries implode? And everybody looks to me as though we're the sole solution. Now, we're going to do everything we can to help bridge that, to remind people that as deep as they go, or maybe as high as they go in academic theology, they need to go deeper into the roots of their spirituality.Matt Wireman00:31:24 - 00:32:01Trust me, just seminaries are not giving people passes. They're not rubber stamping people. They're trying to do their due diligence, teaching students humility by giving them accommodating grades. So, this is actually average or below average, go do work.So, the seminaries are...the ones who are, like you said, embedded within and see theirmission as a parachurch ministry are hugely...are very successful in what they do, but people can't start imputing upon the seminary what they ought to be doing, which is not part of their charter, right? Absolutely.Brian Arnold00:32:01 - 00:33:08That's right. But this is a big fight out there right now and debate between some theologians of what's the seminary's role in these things. And I just see a vicious cycle of churches that are not doing a good job of discipleship because a lot of their pastors were never personally discipled. I was and it changed my life. A lot of people have never had that. And then they go to seminary and they don't really learn that because the seminary says, well, it's not my job. And then we wonder why the local church isn't doing it. And they're producing people who've never seen it. And we're in this pattern.And so I want to just say, what can we do at Phoenix Seminary to just help break someof this pattern to say, look at how powerful and impactful personal mentoring can be.Now, in your church, now that you have this theological education, you've been mentored, how do you start almost like a master's plan of evangelism? I'm going to disciple my elders and deacons. And now they're going to take two or three people and they're going to disciple them. Where would our churches be? That was true. And then even thinking, you know, some people want to use the seminary like it's a Sundayschool class or something, right? Like I want to know more about theology, so I'm going to go to the seminary.Matt Wireman00:32:02 - 00:32:03That's right. That's right. But this is a big.Brian Arnold00:33:09 - 00:33:34I'm fine to train those people. That's great. Come, we'll give you a great education. But what I'm hoping is I'm putting out pastors who can take that to their church and equip the saints for the work of the ministry. So we just have this, you know, I think you used this term earlier, this dumbing down all over the place of where pastors think that what people need is something other than doctrine and theology.Matt Wireman00:33:34 - 00:35:33And other than a good kick in the pants. Yeah, at times. In that, you know, no, you did not exegete this passage appropriately. No, that word does not mean that. And no, you cannot do that. You know, like being able to help push people to say, no, no, no, we are, like you said, I thought so well put that we are shepherding souls. And there is a lot at stake. Most of the people that I have heard of and have met that have been hurt by people are by those who have not gone through the rigors of some kind of training ground. Now, it doesn't necessarily have to be a seminary. It could be a church-based training ground, but some kind of training ground as opposed to like, hey, you know, this is, you know, Johnny Preacher that feels called. And I think in so many ways, people, there are many wounded Christians because they haven't, folks haven't done the hard work of being challenged and having to come up with a biblical explanation of why they believe exe regarding this practice that they believe. That's right. You know, and I do wonder too, if in some ways the seminary is inundated with Christians who love Jesus, but who are not called to ministry because the particularly evangelical church, since that's our context, has not done a good job of heralding vocation. And what I mean by that is, you know, being able to say, hey, what are you passionate about? Did you know that you can serve Jesus faithfully as an electrician, faithfully as a plumber, faithfully as a doctor and a lawyer? Because I remember when I was in college, if you were really sold out for Jesus, you went into full-time ministry. So, you know, I've interfaced with several folks who are like, I don't know if you're called to preaching. Well, I don't think you're called to preaching ministry, but I think you're called to ministry, but your bread and butter may be from somewhere else.Brian Arnold00:35:34 - 00:37:35Absolutely. Yeah. And there's been a lot of confusion. There's been some good work recently, I think, that's overcoming some of those kind of stereotypical type of pieces that we felt when we were coming up through the ranks. It was one of the issues, though, the Phoenix Seminary, I would say, if there was a little bit of mission drift, it was more towards training people who just felt the lack of solid theological teaching in their local churches. One of the things we have in Phoenix is you will have the hour-long worship service, and a lot of times, that's it. There's no Sunday night. Wednesday night, I might have kids and youth kind of ministry things, but nothing for the adults, and then small group ministry. And we've all been helped by small groups. I think those kinds of communities are really great for developing deep relationships with people. But what's missing in the churches now is that educational element where people just don't knowthe basics of the Christian faith anymore. So, even when a person says, I've been really involved in this church, I feel called to ministry, and then they come to seminary, they don't know anything because their churches have never really invested in that. It's one of the interesting trends I think we need to keep an eye on is how many churches are kind of returning to a Sunday school type of model, recognizing the vacuum that's been left when people don't know what the Trinity is and don't know who Jesus is and don't understand salvation. We go down the list, and we have a very illiterate church population today. And this is the wrong time to have that. With the challenges that are happening in society, we need people to know the faith better than ever because there's no cultural assumptions anymore. And in that kind of hostile environment,Christians are gonna have to either know the word deeply or they're gonna be swept away in the time. And that would be really concerned for the kids. And so, yeah, we all know these issues, right?Matt Wireman00:37:34 - 00:38:47Yeah, no, it bears explicating because I think a lot of people know that there's something in the water that's not tasting right, and to be able to call it and say, no, that's arsenic. Or, you know, that will kill you if you drink it because that's...I mean, evenpart of my own story when I was serving overseas, I could smell heresy when I was talking to different pastors at different churches, but I couldn't articulate, oh, that's a heresy because that is the kenotic theory. You know, I couldn't do that, whereas, you know, seminary helped to do that for me. You know, I'd love to, as a seminary president, you're sitting down with someone who loves Jesus and is in a vocation other than being a pastor or a missionary or going into seminary. And they're like, I just want to grow in my faith. My church doesn't have, you know, Sunday school. My church doesn't...like, what you just articulated. So how would you counsel someone who doesn't feel called to pastoral or missionary work but wants to grow in their faith? Are there any books or are there different avenues that they could go down that you would encourage them to get better trained?Brian Arnold00:38:47 - 00:40:12Dr. Seheult- That's a great question, Matt. We are living in a time of great resources.When you think about what's being put out all the time, either through technology oreven through book medium, there's just a lot of helpful things out there. So I would encourage this person in a number of ways. One, if they're looking at any kind of leadership in the church, from deacon to elder, any kind of position like that, I would say seminary education would be really beneficial. You might not need the full MDiv, but getting in and getting kind of a Master of Arts in Ministry that gives you a lot of the groundwork would be really helpful. But again, for the person who just says, I'm an electrician, but I'm passionate about the Lord, I want to know more. I would encourage them to start with one of my colleagues' books, actually, and that's Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem. He's got the second edition coming out in December. And so lots more content. And I think that's where I cut my teeth theologically. And I know there's places that people disagree with Wayne on some things. I do too. But it's still, I think, the most readable, helpful entree into theology. So I think starting there to get the kind of the whole picture of theology through the Bible is helpful. And then I would even encourage some intro kind of books to the New Testament and to the Old Testament, things like Carson and Moo on the New Testament to give them those kinds of pieces.Matt Wireman00:40:12 - 00:40:22You're talking about their introduction to the New Testament, right? Absolutely. Google it, Amazon or introduction to the Old Testament. Those are just surveys of those different books.Brian Arnold00:40:22 - 00:41:05Yep, yep. The Faith of Israel by Dumbrell might be a great place to start with the Old Testament. But as a Dominion of Dynasty by Dempster would be another great place to start with the Old Testament. So there's all these resources. And then whoever you want to teach you today, you can find it on YouTube. You can go there and get a lot of great content from some of the best teachers in the world a click away. And so take advantage of yourself those resources. What we can't say is there's not enough resources. Like there's plenty of those. We might say there's not enough time and then I'd ask about your Netflix, binging, you know, we can certainly binge some other things as well that would be more helpful and beneficial to the soul.Matt Wireman00:41:05 - 00:41:34And so some of it too is along with those resources, I've found that there are a lot of folks that feel like they're swimming in a sea of resources and they don't know which are the good ones to be able to find a someone that you trust. And I'm going to avail myself to anybody who's listening to this and I know you would too, Brian, but like, you know, if you need help and direction, just send me a message and happy to happy to direct you because there are tons of resources and there's tons of really bad resources to run.Brian Arnold00:41:34 - 00:41:47That's exactly right. One of the things, I'm happy you said that, Matt. One of the things that, when I got the bug for theology in college, my roommates and I, we'd always get the CBD catalog. Maybe that dates me a little bit.Matt Wireman00:41:46 - 00:41:51Yeah, no, it's still going strong. I still need to get up on there.Brian Arnold00:41:51 - 00:41:57Catalog, why I still use CBD for four. And then, by the way, let's just tell the listeners that's not the oil.Matt Wireman00:41:57 - 00:42:04Yeah, that's not the oil. That's Christian Book Distributors. CVD. That's right. Not O-R-D or something.Brian Arnold00:42:05 - 00:42:51Absolutely. When my wife said, you know what CBD is? I'm like, I've been shopping there for years. Let's clarify that. But that's a great place to get resources. But I can remember getting that and seeing some Old Testament books, especially Gerhard von Raad's Old Testament Theology. It was like six bucks. And I'm thinking, I don't know much about the Old Testament. I really would love a book to help with that. But I knew enough about that name to say, I need to be suspicious. That might not be the best resource. But I don't know what is. When there's almost too many resources, you go to LifeWay, and if I can say this without getting in trouble, a lot of the resources that are fronted there are the last things I would encourage people to read. You got to go back into the back into a small corner section to find the real gems there.Matt Wireman00:42:51 - 00:43:21Well, you know what's been interesting even in the resources that you mentioned is not10 ways to be a better husband or 10 steps to be a more biblical wife. It's actually learn the Bible. That's the dearth of information that we're having a problem with is that people don't know where Malachi is in the Bible. And they don't know that he was a prophet. And they don't know all these things. It's like, get to know the Bible. That's the first place you should start.Brian Arnold00:43:20 - 00:44:21Absolutely. Absolutely. And then, you know, so one of the things that was great for mewith seminary education was I'm learning to even know what the resources are. Like, that was a big part of it for me is now I feel like I can pick things up, know where theywent to school, know when they went to school there, and get a pretty good picture already of where they may stand. And then you get the grid, right, for being able to filtersome things out. But also, I hope you're at a church, and this is another plug for seminary education, where the pastor has a seminary education, who can help provide those resources, who knows those things. So I hope you're at a place where your staff is able to do that. In the meantime, if not, find somebody who is that you trust, and they would be happy. Any time that people come to me and they say, can I get a resource on X, whatever that is, that is one of the things that give me the greatest joy in answering, because that tells me there's another Christian out there who really wants to go deeper with the Lord, and I'm always happy to help resource.Matt Wireman00:44:21 - 00:44:41Yeah, yeah, no, that's great. Now, so for the person who is at a church and they feel like they want to go into full-time ministry, can you just kind of walk through how does someone come to that decision to where they're like, I think I should be a pastor or a missionary?Brian Arnold00:44:41 - 00:44:47Absolutely. I mean, step one, ps.edu, you apply online.Matt Wireman00:44:47 - 00:44:52And he will waive your admission fee.Brian Arnold00:44:52 - 00:44:57Just mention Matt Wireman in the comments or something. No, it's a great...Matt Wireman00:44:56 - 00:44:58No, it's a great. Yeah.Brian Arnold00:44:58 - 00:47:11I wrestled with that as well. I mean, here I was in fire EMS. My dad had been a fire chief.That's the world I knew. And I didn't even think I could have been satisfied in a career doing that. I know CH Spurgeon is often used, if you could do anything else besides ministry, do it. I don't really agree with Spurgeon on that one. Because of why? Well, because I think that a lot of people who do well in ministry are people of deep curiosity and they love a lot of different things and they themselves given 10 lives doing 10 different things. Well put. Right. So I would say that God calls people to ministry and it's not unique to me. It's kind of the historic answer in two ways, the internal call and the external call. The internal call is when you start to say, Lord, is that you calling me to ministry? Like, I feel a passion for this. I want to teach the Bible. When I was in seminary, or I'm sorry, my undergrad, one of the biggest kind of moments in my early life was sitting at a Bible study in Campus Crusade and my campus director is there and he's leading us through Colossians. And I remember thinking, you get paid to teach people the Bible. That's amazing. Like, I would love to do that. That's what I'm so interested and passionate about. So I had that internal call. And then I started going to other people and saying, do you see this gift in me? Could we give me some teaching opportunities where we can actually see, is this there? And could God use me in this way? And I had three or four people in my life who are still in my life to this day that all affirmed that. And so I know that question's more for, should I go into ministry? But even for me with PhD work, I remember Dr. Russ Fuller sitting me down in his office and saying, I think you should consider doing PhD work. And that was a great confirmation to me that I should move on. So I, when weighting these things, more often weigh the external call higher than the internal call because I can be deceived. But chances are, if I'm asking four or five other mature believers, do you see this call of God in my life? And they're being honest, you're going to get some really good answers to that.Matt Wireman00:47:12 - 00:48:38And I think for that person to start with a posture of, I don't see clearly, and God has given other people to me in my life to help me see clearly. Because a lot of times, you know, folks will ask me like, I think I'm called the ministry. And I'm like, well, that's awesome. Celebrate, first of all. And I don't want to stiff arm anybody in that. No, that's right. We need more laborers. But then secondly, listen to somebody that cares for you and actually is in the work of that ministry to say, hey, maybe instead of going to seminary right now, maybe you could just be here for a couple years and get some relational tools in your belt, you know, so that you can learn like, what is it you're getting into? Because maybe in two years of volunteering at a church, you know, and it's not just to get free labor for people, it's actually in a service to them to be able to say, hey, why don't you just serve here as a volunteer, because if you don't want to do it as a volunteer, then you're probably not, it's going to be even more tainted when you get paid for it. I promise you that. If you're not willing to not be paid for this, then it's going to get tainted really fast. I've seen tons of people in full time ministry who depend upon full time ministry for their salaries, and their lives become a shipwreck, because they start to treat God and divine matters as a slot machine, you know, andBrian Arnold00:48:38 - 00:49:00Absolutely. And there's not much in that slot machine. Let's just say that as well. I mean,ministry, it was really hard. I mean, I had breakfast with my wife this morning and we were just kind of going over some different pieces and remembering back to my years in pastoral ministry when things were exceptionally brutally tight. And it was a challenge.Matt Wireman00:49:00 - 00:49:07As you're getting a call about a man who just, you know, has all of those things going on in his life, right? Yeah, yeah.Brian Arnold00:49:07 - 00:50:06Yeah, exactly. And recognizing that there were times that I just needed to keep going back to 1st Corinthians 9. Woe to me if I don't preach the gospel. Like, it has to be so deep-seated in you. And this is where I will tip the hat to Spurgeon a little bit and say I get why he's saying that. Because there has to be that fire in the belly. Even if I'm not getting paid for it, even if I'm booted out of two or three churches, God has put such a call in my life, I must preach the gospel. I want to see the harvest field full of those kinds of laborers who just say, I'm here because God has called me here. And even if I don't get converts, and even if I run into wall after wall and obstacle after obstacle, God has called me to preach and I'm going to do it. And I think back about people like the Puritans as they were getting kicked out of their ministries and then you have the Five Mile Act. They couldn't be within five miles of their old parishes. And yet they're still preachers of the gospel. We need more of that in our day.Matt Wireman00:50:07 - 00:50:20Yeah, that's great. I'd love to ask what you see as a president of a seminary, what you see are some of the challenges to higher education right now, particularly as it relates to seminary education?Brian Arnold00:50:20 - 00:53:22Sure. I think there's multiple, and there are internal threats and there's external threats as well. The internal threats are a lot of what you and I have been talking about today, Matt, and that is back 20 or 30 years ago, if you were gonna go into pastoral ministry, you would not find a position without having a degree. A master of divinity degreewould have been the bare requirement expected of somebody to go in. Well, now, churches don't really seem to care about that or, you know, an undergrad degree will suffice if it's in Bible. But let's be honest, a lot of pastors don't even have that. They were in banking and felt a call on their life. And so that's part of it from where I'm sittingis how many people in churches I see who don't even care about that minimal level of expertise in the field. So that's one of those kinds of threats, I think. Another one, and these go more to external than, is there's a higher ed bubble out there anyway. And everybody kind of sees this out there as the next one that could burst. And if it bursts, that's gonna be catastrophic on undergraduate institutions. Well, I'm downstream of undergraduate institutions. So if there's fewer and fewer people going to undergrad institutions, then there's gonna be fewer people going to graduate school as well. And so I think that could be a place where we begin to take a bit of pressure and a bit of a hit with enrollment that way. I think part of it is gonna be the cultural piece. It's not getting any easier out there. I think Christian institutions in particular that are going to stay faithful on issues of gender and sexuality are going to have a very difficult road ahead of them. And this is where I hope that the Lord gives us the fulfillment of this. And that is, I hope there's always a Phoenix Seminary. If we had to lose our accreditation because of our stances on some of those issues, then so be it. If we lose a lot of donor money because of our stances, then so be it. If it's just us without walls, we're going into a church basement somewhere and teaching theology, I hope there's always something like that. I think about a guy like Dietrich Bonhoeffer with Fingermann. He's, what do you do in the midst of Nazi Germany oppression? You start a seminary, right? It's amazing. The thing that people would think, well, that needs to go. It's like, no, no, no, we need this now more than ever. So all the threats that I see, those being some of the major ones, I still believe that what we are called to do at a seminary is vital for the health and vitality of the church. And as long as the church is here, we're going to need places of theological higher ed to help prepare those people in the word. So I don't worry about the threats too much. I mean, we got to be wise and anticipate some of those things that are coming and get ready. But at the same time, I think our call is always going to be there.Matt Wireman00:53:23 - 00:53:39That's great. I'd love to hear, I got two more questions for you. Just as you explain some of the challenges to higher ed, particularly Christian higher ed and seminaries, what do you see as some of the greater challenges to the church, to the local church now?Brian Arnold00:53:41 - 00:55:19Yeah, a lot of those would be the same kind of ones, right? Is the pressure right now to conform to the world has probably not been greater in American society since our founding, right? I mean, this is a very new shift in Western civilization. And so I can't imagine being a 12-year-old right now about ready to go to junior high and high school, facing the kind of pressures that these kids are facing from a worldview standpoint. And I think churches have not been well equipped to speak into those. And so they're getting a lot of it from culture, not from the church. Well, pretty soon the churches are going to be far emptier than they are now because of just attrition to the culture. So I think that's a real serious, not existential threat because Jesus has promised that the church will not be overcome by the gates of hell. And I believe that promise and I'm not worried about the church from that aspect, but I do think the harder times are coming for the church. But a lot of that to me goes back and maybe I sound like a one-trick pony on this, but I think the deeper that a pastor is able to go and root people in, then it doesn't matter how hard the winds blow, those people will stay rooted. My fear is that we are seeing in the church these trends coming. And so instead of raising the bar, we keep lowering the bar and wondering why people don't hit it and wondering why peopleare leaving, but we're not giving them a beautiful counter narrative to it at all.Matt Wireman00:55:19 - 00:55:22Lowering the bar in what sense?Brian Arnold00:55:21 - 00:55:55Well, even kind of what we're talking about, right? Why is it that the saints of God know so little about the Bible? Why do they know so little about theology? Why is it when Ligonier comes out with these surveys that they do, they had one question in there, it was a couple of years ago now, maybe just a year or two, it was something about Jesus's humanity was Jesus, like, you know, basically was denying the divinity of Christ,almost like an Aryan kind of response. And I don't know if it was the way the question was worded or something, but it was like 75% of people who took it look like they were Aryans. That should never be.Matt Wireman00:55:55 - 00:56:21And if you don't know what an Aryan is, that's A-R-I-A-N, go look it up. That's one way to look it up. If you don't know what something is, there are tons of resources to be able to just look it up. So if you're hearing this and you're like, Aryan? No, we're not talking about a nation or anything like that. We're talking about the Aryanism. So look up Aryanism and you'll find something. Even if it's on Wikipedia, that's better than nothing.Brian Arnold00:56:21 - 00:56:24That's right. That's right. Just don't become one.Matt Wireman00:56:23 - 00:56:25Yeah, exactly, exactly.Brian Arnold00:56:25 - 00:57:34So they're just not ready. And so we have this view in the church that these concepts are so hard, so big, so difficult. We don't want it to feel like school to people. So we would rather give them 10 steps, like you said before, of healthy parenting and marriage. And everybody wants these practical pieces without understanding the substance of the Christian faith, which is the greatest place for the practical piece of Christian ministry. Like the deeper I know God, the better my marriage is gonna be. The better I know the word, the better my parenting's gonna be. I don't need these offshoots. I need people to take me deeper into the things of God through his word so that I'm prepared to handle anything that comes at us. But instead, we keep moving that lower. And I'm always amazed when you have like an astrophysicist in your church who's like, oh, I just don't really understand the Bible. Look, one of the things that we believe is in the perspicuity of scriptures. Now that's like one of the worst named doctrines ever. It just means the Bible is clear and it should be able to be understood by anyone who calls himself a Christian. So I think oftentimes it's not for intellectual ability,it's lack of trying.Matt Wireman00:57:37 - 00:58:09This has been awesome. I'd love to have our time closed by just a final exhortation that you might give to those who are listening as it relates to knowing the Bible. I think you already have done that and I'm thankful for that, but I'd love to hear, like if you were to sit down with someone who's listening to this podcast and you were to exhort them towards greater love for Jesus, a greater love for the Bible, what would you say to them over a cup of coffee?Brian Arnold00:58:09 - 00:59:55Yeah, I think I would reiterate what I have just the last thing I said is, if you really want to grow as a disciple of Christ, it's by knowing Him. It's by loving His word. And so don't think that I need something else outside, you know, the 10 lessons on this or that to actually grow in the walk with the Lord. Get deeper into those things. When I was in college, my life changed when I got deeper into theology. When I got deeper into theology, my walk got deeper. When suffering came in my life, it was the deep rootedness of my knowledge of who God is that got me through, not little trinkets on the side. And so as a theological educator and as one who is pastored, be a person who seeks those deeper things of God. Be a person who, if you're a pastor listening, take your people deeper. If you're somebody who's at a church that they just simply are not going to do that, find a new church. Life is short. You've got to be at a place that is going to take these things to the utmost seriousness. And I think by doing that, Christianity itself will be able to present that beautiful counter narrative to what's happening out there. As the saints of God, know Him better, cherish His word, and recognize that true human flourishing comes through loving God with all heart, mind, soul, and strength, and loving neighbor as yourself.Matt Wireman00:59:56 - 01:00:10Amen. Great. Thank you so much, Brian. This has been really refreshing and encouraging to be able to have this time with you. I'd love to ask you if you could just end our time by praying and thanking God for our time together and, and yeah, and then we'll close.Brian Arnold 01:00:10 - 01:01:11I'd be happy to. Matt, thanks for having me. This is great. You bet. God, I do thank you for moments like this when we get to take an hour or so and just dwell on you and think about you. And I thank you for Matt and this podcast that he's doing to help try to equip these saints out there for anybody who's listening to know you and your word better.And Lord, I do pray that there will be an awakening in your church. An awakening begins with people who are so full of the Spirit because they're so full of the Word of God. And I pray for pastors in this labor field who will really get the tools that they need and recognize that those are not some additional thing. But these are actually the tools of our trade to get people into this place where they can really love you, heart, mind, soul, body, strength, and begin to love their neighbor. And that people in this culture that is decaying will see that the gospel is full of life and full of fruit. Praise in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.Matt Wireman01:01:11 - 01:01:13Amen. Thank you, brother.Brian Arnold01:01:13 - 01:01:14Thanks again. I appreciate it.

Main Point: God's plan triumphs over the plans of sinners and my sinful past.Applications:1. Boast in our weaknesses to show Christ's power2. Declare what Christ has done3. Walk in the Spirit as Christ builds the church

Message from John C. Houston on June 19, 2022

Our guest today is Dr. Matt Lucas. Dr. Lucas enjoyed a high-impact career in higher education prior to becoming the president and CEO of Our Daily Bread.  Prior to being named as Our Daily Bread's new CEO, Matt served most recently as Chancellor at Indiana Wesleyan University-National & Global, and as Provost and Executive Vice President at Corban University from 2008 to 2017.  After nearly 20 years of working in higher education, Dr. Matt had been considering a change in his career, whether that looked like becoming an executive pastor or some other form of ministry. When Our Daily Bread first asked if he would be interested in the position, Matt saw the opportunity as a way of God clarifying his steps, but he still did not think becoming the CEO of such an established organization would be his next opportunity. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Matt as we discuss what led to his transition to Our Daily Bread, his experience of being second in command and the CEO, facing the fork in the metaphorical road, and the challenges he overcame along the way. Thanks again for listening to the Next Gen Nonprofit Leadership With Tommy Thomas podcast. If you're listening to an app that lets you leave a review, please do so. Many of our listeners come to us on the recommendation of a friend or a colleague. If you've heard something today worth passing on, please share the show with others.  Enjoy!   Time Stamps [1:35] – We're introduced to our guest, Dr. Matt Lucas, and learn what led to the decision to move from the classroom to administration. [4:19] – What was the thread that kept Matt going as he moved up the administrative ladder?  [6:20] – The transition to Our Daily Bread.  [8:44] – This is what Matt believes was in the mindset of Our Daily Bread's leadership to give a chance to someone from the outside to lead the ministry. [11:20] – We hear how Rick's taking a backseat and deferring to Matt was a testament to Rick's humility and character.   [12:55] – This is what the CEO / Board Chair relationship looks like for Dr. Matt. [15:52] – These are the different competencies Matt has used in the office of the President and while being the second in charge.  [17:52] – Dr. Matt reveals what he asks others serving the office of the President. [19:10] – What does delegation look like in Matt's life?  [21:14] – Dr. Matt explains how he's not a detail person, so this is what it looks like delegating detail-oriented tasks to detail-oriented people. [22:43] – We learn about the lessons Matt has learned about authenticity throughout his career. [24:26] – This is how transparency applies to authenticity, according to Matt.  [26:55] – Matt discusses the impact of a book he read called Dangerous Calling, by Paul David. [27:37] – What would Matt do-over in his career? [29:31] – What does Matt wish someone told him earlier in his career?  [31:09] – We hear the advice Matt would give to someone mid-career who might be facing a fork in the road.   Resources JobfitMatters – Website JobfitMatters – Podcast Dangerous Calling, by Paul David Tripp   Connect tthomas@jobfitmatters.com Follow Tommy on Twitter Follow Tommy on LinkedIn Follow Matt on LinkedIn

In this episode Richard shares from his library the books he has enjoyed in the last year and some that he is looking forward to reading in the new year. DONATE: Now, through the end of the year your donation can be doubled thanks to a generous donor. If you have enjoyed this podcast and want to support what we do, click here. EVENTS: Find out more and sign up for either our in-person (May 2-4) or online (Feb. 28- Mar 2) Spiritual Leadership Coaching workshop. Click here. Richard will be at the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove on March 28-30 for an event entitled, "SeniorCelebration: Living Victoriously in a Troubling, Confusing, and Dangerous World" Register here. RESOURCES: Beyond Order by Jordan B. Peterson. Find it here. The Gift of Being Yourself by David G. Benner. Find it here. The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl R. Trueman. Find it here. The Problem of the Old Testament by Duane A. Garrett. Find it here. Life of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, 1899-1981 by Iain H. Murray. Find it here. John G. Patton by John G. Patton. Find it here. With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray. Find it here. Gently and Lowly by Dane C. Ortland. Find it here. On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior. Find it here. Gunlap by Robert Wolgemuth. Find it here. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Find it here. Dangerous Calling by Paul David Tripp. Find it here. Quiet by Susan Cain. Find it here. The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark. Find it here. The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Find it here.  Paul: A biography by N.T. Wright. Find it here. Smart Leadership by Mark Miller. Find it here. The Emperor Domitian by Brian Jones. Find it here. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. Find it here. The Organized Mind by Daniel Levitin. Find it here. Bismarck: A Life by Jonathan Steinberg. Find it here. Peter the Great: His Life and World by Robert K. Massie. Find it here. Louis XIV by Anthony Levi. Find it here. The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul. Find it here. CONNECT: Follow Richard on Twitter. Follow Richard on Facebook. Read Richard's latest blog posts at www.richardblackaby.com.

Sermon Title: A Dangerous Calling Key Scripture: Jeremiah 1:4-9 Big Idea: Your call to share the gospel is a matter of life or death Sermon Outline: I. God's call is always Clear ( 4-5)
II. God's call always involves Risk (6)
III. God's call always involves His Protection and Provision (7-9)

Sermon Title: A Dangerous Calling Key Scripture: Jeremiah 1:4-9 Big Idea: Your call to share the gospel is a matter of life or death Sermon Outline: I. God's call is always Clear ( 4-5)
II. God's call always involves Risk (6)
III. God's call always involves His Protection and Provision (7-9)

Jesus calls us to love God with our minds.One way we can do that is by digging into good books. In this episode, we explore my Top 5 reads of 2021. Along the way, we'll talk about some critically important realities facing Christians today. Piano Rock Instrumental by Hyde - Free Instrumentals | https://soundcloud.com/davidhydemusicMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

Hebrews 13:7-17Ethan Ramsey

Continuing in the Titus series, Pastor Brad preaches from the text that gives the qualifications for elders in the local church.

Seberapa mudah menjadi seorang Kristen? Ataukah terlalu berbahaya? Bagaimana jika panggilan dari Tuhan bagi semua pengikut-Nya adalah panggilan yang berbahaya? Apakah Tuhan sedang menjebak kita?

Do you find identity more in success than in your calling from God? On this episode Kyle Willis and Dace Clifton talk about the book  Dangerous Calling  by Paul David Tripp. Join us as we talk about how pastors and church leaders can avoid some common negative thoughts that many pastors face. Dangerous Calling Book | Paul David Tripp Notable Quoteables“Human beings are always assigning to themselves some kind of identity. There areonly two places to look. Either you will be getting your identity vertically, from who you are inChrist, or you will be shopping for it horizontally in the situations, experiences, and relationships of your daily life."“The ultimate purpose of the Word of God is not theological information but heartand life transformation.”“Self-righteous people tend to be critical, dismissive, and impatient with others.”LinksDaily Pastor Online ContentTalanton Church ServicesMusic by:Sow and Tether

Eksposisi 2 Timotius 2:1-13

When Davi was 19-years-old she was in a horror movie - "Dangerous Calling" - that was posted on YouTube. It had a few hundred views, but in the last two weeks it has gone viral! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Moses' encounter with God before the burning bush resulted with Moses being sent as the one who would be used to deliver the Hebrew out of Egypt. Serving God is a dangerous calling because we tend to get in the way. Ex. 3 gives us seven essential principles we need to understand if we are to serve God properly.

Bryan Moak: Vice President of Church Strengthening @ Converge MidAmericaHost of the Advance Podcast 85% of Churches are Plateaued or DecliningWhat if we could flip the script? Before You Think About The Next Year Of Ministry: Take an Extended Break (that is more than one week). Pastors are tired and burnt out You can't fix a problem when you are worn out. How is your health? Are you becoming a "Hunk"?Are you becoming a "Chunk"?Are you becoming a "Drunk"?Tips & Trips For Taking a Break: Unplugging means plugging into something else. Have you been neglecting your personal soul care?  Your family needs to take priority, go do something DIFFERENT. If you want to be refreshed from work, you need to unplug from work. Have the hard conversation with your team or board. Stat: 9 out of every 10 Pastors will not finish in Ministry. What is your Calling?  Why did you get into this in the first place? Dangerous Calling by Paul David TrippClarifying Questions For The Next Year Of Ministry: 1. If our church shut its door today, would our community care?  If not, why not? 2.  If the Holy Spirit left your church, would anything you do change? 3. What is your plan for Discipleship?  Do you have a pathway? 4.  What is your church's prayer life like?  Are we a prayer saturated church? 5.  Are you worshipping when you gather or are you going through the motions on Sunday? 6. How are you connecting with people far from God? Somewhere between 78-90% of Christians are not sharing their faith. 70% of unchurched people say they have never been invited to church. 75% of regular church attenders do not think sharing their faith is important. We need to RETHINK what God has called us to, and get back to it! Advice From Bryan: You are NOT ALONE! Get Counseling if you need it! Don't make rash decisions in the midst of anxiety!Consider making plans now, that will be in place for Easter 2021.

2 Timothy 3:10-4:8 Don Carson, Editor, The New Bible Commentary ESV Greek Tools ESV Study Bible IVP Bible Background Commentary Robert Bellah, Habits of the Heart James Boice, Commentary on the Psalms Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together Brian Blount, et al, True to Our Native Land: African American Commentary Edmund Clowney, The Church Dan Doriani and Richard Phillips, 2 Timothy Craig Keener, et al, NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Billy Joel, “My Life” Mike Judge, Office Space screenplay Timothy Keller, Logos Sermon Archive Martin Luther, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” Mister Mister, “The Living Years” Andrew Peterson, “You’ll Find Your Way” Psychology Today, “What is Confirmation Bias?” Thom Rainer, “Six Reasons Why Your Pastor is About to Quit” Paul Tripp, Dangerous Calling

August 30, 2020 Sermon Recording

Click to download sermon notesClick to download discussion questions1 Timothy 4:11-16

Passage: 2 Corinthians 11:16-33Preacher: Steve McKenzie

Sermon Series: Last Words; Speaker: Pastor Scott Brodd; Scripture:1 Kings 19:19-21Support the show (https://www.beachlakefmc.org/give)

pfbc.ca

Everyone has an opinion, especially when it comes to religion and spirituality, and most people are a lot smarter than we are. We just happen to be the only four people in the room having the conversation. Hosted by Kirkland Gee, Nathan Cantu, Kyle Major, and Tanner Petty, this is a place for conversations, disagreements, and strategizing how we can better do ministry in the 21st-century. Today on the show, we're talking about what someone has to do to become a pastor in 2019, how that's changed over the years, and what we think is the best path forward to fix that problem for the next generation of church leaders. EMAIL: smartestintheroompodcast@gmail.com WEBSITE: https://anchor.fm/smartest-in-the-room RECOMMENDED READING: Helmut Thelicke, A Little Exercise for Young Theologians. Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/smartest-in-the-room/support

Join Logan and "James Bond" as we discuss some of the scariest games in gaming. The guys kick off the show by discussing the different ways you can support the show by supporting on Patreon or leaving a rating & review on your podcast app of choice. What Have You Been Playing/Reading Highlights The guys are pleasantly surprised by Apple Arcade's offerings such as WhatTheGolf, the golf game for folks who hate golf, and Sayonara Wild Hearts, a pop album video game. Both Adam and Logan have also beaten Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and offer their final thoughts on the game. Adam says the game is charming and Logan didn't really have anything negative to say about the game. You can read the official TRG review here. For reading, Adam has been reading out of Psalm 123. During his quiet time, Adam learns about being ready, and waiting, for God's call to action. Logan nears the end of Dangerous Calling by Paul David Tripp and recommends it to anyone in ministry. Logan discusses how pastors ought to take opportunities to let others lead and teach, instead of getting a prideful spirit. Topic: Scariest Games We've Ever Played Highlights As the topic of discussion gets underway, Adam starts off with The Mummy on PS1. Logan discusses the urban legends surrounding missingno from Pokemon. Reader submissions discussed games such as Resident Evil 7 and Bloodborne. Bloodborne brings up bad memories for Adam regarding a time the game almost made him poo his pants. Logan reminisces about the time he got to the sewers for the first time in Resident Evil 2 and why he nearly broke his Gamecube controller. The guys give thanks to all of the lovely Deer Patrons for supporting the show Reco's! Check out Apple Arcade Show your pastor appreciation during Pastor Appreciation Month If you like what we do here at TRG, head over to Patreon to consider lending support to the show! Support as low as $1 a month goes a long way to helping us continue discussing Biblical theology and games. Be sure to follow us on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for more content and interaction!

Years ago in Greenville, Mississippi, I was roofing my house. First house I had ever owned. I got some insurance money and just decided to roof it myself. Every day, after I got home from work, I would get up on the roof and channel my twenty-year-old self that used to roof houses for my uncle. One afternoon I heard something and looked up to see Will, my two-and-a-half-year-old son, in nothing but a diaper, standing a few feet away, grinning. “Hey Daddy.” I panicked. I was trying to figure out how to get to him before he fell off the roof. We were on top of a two-story house, and I was trying to say calm to keep him calm (although he didn't appear panicked at all!). Slowly, I made my way to him and grabbed him. I didn't know whether to hug him or scold him. When I got him down off the roof and managed to quit shaking, I found myself somewhere between anger and fear at how unsafe my young son had been, climbing a ladder onto a two-story house — and, well, proud. I mean, he was only two-and-a-half! Another time, this same child disappeared in the backyard, and Teri and I heard him call, “Hey Dad, watch this.” We looked up to see him in the top of a magnolia tree. Teri screamed, “You get down, right his minute!” And I screamed, “You can get one more —one more branch!” Teri and I have often marveled that somewhere between, “Stop, it isn't safe,” and “You can get one more limb,” our children managed to navigate through childhood without killing themselves. Somewhere along the way to Suburbia, we have become almost totally risk averse. We have become addicted to safety and comfort. It colors the way we parent, the way we keep to our own tribe, the way we resist breaking out to be in hard places and with people from hard places. I think deep down that all of us wish that Jesus would just give us an easy life. But he won't, and the call Jesus has on our life is a dangerous call! It is shaped like a cross. This is brutal. Suburbia has blinded us to the fact that we are even affected by safety and comfort. So, we will try to dismantle this idol on Sunday. Here is the hard truth, however: you can't dismantle it. We hold on tight to this one, to the point that it will distort our lives and, even when we see it, we still cling to it. Only God can help us take off the layers of protection we have wrapped ourselves in.

PRIMARY SOURCES: Don Carson, Editor, The New Bible Commentary ESV Greek Tools ESV Study Bible IVP Bible Background Commentary Timothy Keller, Logos Sermon Archive Ray Ortlund, Jr., Commentary on Isaiah Eugene Peterson, The Message Charles Darwin, Autobiography The Lion King Sally Lloyd-Jones, The Jesus Storybook Bible Madonna, interview with Vogue Orleans, “Still the One” “Rich Mullins: A Ragamuffin’s Legacy,” Documentary Amy Tan, interview with The New York Times Paul Tripp, Dangerous Calling

PRIMARY SOURCES: Don Carson, Editor, The New Bible Commentary ESV Greek Tools ESV Study Bible IVP Bible Background Commentary Timothy Keller, Logos Sermon Archive Ray Ortlund, Jr., Commentary on Isaiah Eugene Peterson, The Message Charles Darwin, Autobiography The Lion King Sally Lloyd-Jones, The Jesus Storybook Bible Madonna, interview with Vogue Orleans, “Still the One” “Rich Mullins: A Ragamuffin’s Legacy,” Documentary Amy Tan, interview with The New York Times Paul Tripp, Dangerous Calling

July 21, 2019 Isaiah 53:1-6 PRIMARY SOURCES: Don Carson, Editor, The New Bible Commentary ESV Greek Tools ESV Study Bible IVP Bible Background Commentary Timothy Keller, Logos Sermon Archive Ray Ortlund, Jr., Commentary on Isaiah Eugene Peterson, The Message Charles Darwin, Autobiography The Lion King Sally Lloyd-Jones, The Jesus Storybook Bible Madonna, interview with Vogue Orleans, “Still the One” “Rich Mullins: A Ragamuffin’s Legacy,” Documentary Amy Tan, interview with The New York Times Paul Tripp, Dangerous Calling

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Paul Tripp, author of Dangerous Calling and Parenting. During their conversation, they discuss maturing in leadership and the type of people to surround yourself with to be successful. BEST QUOTES “If you write every day, at the end of the month you have a lot of material at hand." "Weakness is not in the way of what God wants to do with me, but my delusions of strength are." "Spiritually healthy ministry that has longevity and produces good fruit is always the work of a community." "I want to surround myself with people who are just as committed to kingdom ministry as I am, but are smart in places where I'm not." "Character trumps gift." "I pray not because it's a personal religious habit, but because in those people's lives I am only ever a tool." "I want people in my life who will help me to see me." "How do I live out the commitment God has called me to with my family in this new stage my family is in?" "The number one platform for influence is relationship." "Where is the church going to get mature leaders if immature leaders run?" "Hardship in the hands of the Redeemer is the workroom of grace." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES LifeWay Leadership Podcast Network 5LQ Episode 110: Paul Tripp 5LQ Episode 246: Paul Tripp Dangerous Calling by Paul Tripp Parenting by Paul Tripp Lost in the Middle by Paul Tripp Forever by Paul Tripp Parenting with Words of Grace by William Smith Not God Enough by J.D. Greear 7 Myths About Singleness by Sam Allberry Learning to Love the Psalms by Robert Godfrey The Story of Redemption Bible PrayerMate App Ministry Grid The One Thing Podcast

Hat tip: Paul Tripp, author of Dangerous Calling, via desiringgod.org

A discussion of seeker sensitive churches, the purpose of the gathering known as the church, and Bradley getting thrown under the bus for even suggesting the topic. We'll probably have to come back to this one a few more times. Recommended reading: Dangerous Calling by Paul David Tripp - https://amzn.to/2Ncs7N2 The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning - https://amzn.to/2MM6GTB A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs - https://amzn.to/2Q1Iv1G --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/westminster-effects-doxology-podcast/support

Two weeks ago we looked at the positive response to the New Covenant. It includes Drawing near to God, holding unswervingly to our hope, spurring one another on to love and good deeds as we meet together regularly. Last week we looked at the chilling side of a negative response. The truly saved enter in and remain in. The truly apostate go out and remain out. Now our author encourages his readers to, "think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ." They had such a good start. Don't give up now. Show your faith by your deeds. The serious Christian must constantly as the question, "How do I break out of lukewarmness and stir up myself and other to love and good deeds?" This is what our world needs and what our text is about.

Ministry Talks 7 - The Dark Side of the Church 6 realities that can make the church feel a little dark at times…   John 17:13-19 - foundation of light and dark, world and God’s people   Reality #1 - It will always be a challenge to help the world understand the church. not a distraction, part of ministry inherent to being in the world, not of the world In the world is a good thing, from God The Light of Christ and the Lighthouse of the Word Compassion in knowing a world disconnected from God and His love   Reality #2 - The church itself exists in the world not outside of it.             -  junk of the world will be in the church             - we will see both light and dark in the church             - joy (v. 13)   Reality #3 - People will struggle with sin in the church.             - we will see relationship issues, addiction, sexual immorality, gossip, hatefulness all around us             - we are not better people             - we will also see sin at church - need for boundaries             - sin of language is so common             - How do people yell, accuse, make fun of, fail to include? What else can you add?             - How do we repair the hurts and bring light with the Word?             - polarity of family and institution aspects of the church   Reality #4 - Spiritual warfare is most often experienced in relationships, especially deeply spiritual relationships.             - Colossians 3:9-15   Reality #5 - We really, really, really want to play favorites.             - James 2:1-4             - money yes, but also times, special groups of people, founders, members v nonmembers, worship preferences, knowledge, etc.             - how do we expect children or youth to be something they are not   Reality #6 - Everything feels so darn personal.             - 1 Thessalonians 2:9-12,19-20             - joy and life is better than the cerebral version, even when it’s dark and hard   Resources: Built on the Rock - https://www.amazon.com/Built-Rock-Congregation-Ted-Kober/dp/0758658060 Simple Church - https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Church-Returning-Process-Disciples/dp/0805447997 Total Church - https://www.amazon.com/Total-Church-Radical-Reshaping-Community/dp/1433502089 Dangerous Calling - https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Calling-Confronting-Challenges-Pastoral/dp/1433535823   “Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.”  

This clip was taken from a College Life at USC. Alex talks about the 10 common pitfalls that he has fallen into while leading Young Life. 

Peace-making sounds like a great ideal to strive toward. However, stepping into conflict can be a dangerous proposal. After all, Jesus, our great "Prince of Peace" was put to death in order to bring us peace!

Sermon in the series "Rediscovering Jesus - Studies in the Gospel of Mark"

If you would like to learn more about Upcountry Church you can visit our website at www.UpcountryChurch.org

This week I’m in the room with Crawford Loritts, pastor and author of the new book, "Unshaken: Real Faith in Our Faithful God".In my conversation with Crawford, we discuss how faith differs from mere optimism, why it comes easier for some rather than others, and how we can grow in faith. Don’t forget you can get "In The Room" automatically downloaded to your mobile device each week by subscribing on iTunes. I’d also love to hear your feedback from this episode. Drop me a note at ryan@redemptionbc.org and let me know what you thought.Thanks for listening!Buy “Unshaken: Real Faith in Our Faithful God”: rdmptn.org/InTheRoomBooksFollow Crawford on twitter: twitter.com/CrawfordLorittsBooks mentioned in this episode:“The Pursuit Of God” by A.W. Tozer: rdmptn.org/487373“The Knowledge of the Holy” by A.W. Tozer: rdmptn.org/858275“Knowing God” by J.I. Packer: rdmptn.org/586354“Dangerous Calling” by Paul David Tripp: rdmptn.org/528927“Prayer” by Timothy Keller: rdmptn.org/335923

Jesus said he was sending the disciple out "as sheep in the midst of wolves." That sounds dangerous! We welcome Pastor Tyler back to The Gathering for another Sunday as he teaches from the Scripture!

It’s great to be back! We had a wonderful time away. Spent time in northern Indiana with family. Just playing and exercising and eating and sleeping in; catching frogs and turtles, teaching the kids to ski, sailing the Hobie Cat, playing soccer with...

In this episode, Dave Harvey talks to author and speaker, Paul Tripp. In this episode, they talk about:Why Paul wrote the book "Dangerous Calling".How pastors can build a culture of grace in their churches.