Spark Cast

George E. Shinhoster came of age in the civil turbulence of the 1960s. A native of Savannah, Ga., he was one of the first African Americans to desegregate a high school and college there. He worked with the Chatham County Crusade for Voters to register black citizens to become voters. In the heat of the civil rights struggle, Mr. Shinhoster worked with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the S...

George E. Shinhoster came of age in the civil turbulence of the 1960s. A native of Savannah, Ga., he was one of the first African Americans to desegregate a high school and college there. He worked with the Chatham County Crusade for Voters to register black citizens to become voters. In the heat of the civil rights struggle, Mr. Shinhoster worked with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the S...

From the book of Acts, through the Epistles, to our modern day, followers of Jesus have wrestled with how to live a life worthy of the identity "Christian," and what our call is for The Church today. How do we carry the presence of God in this world? What does it mean to follow Jesus, to live out that calling as The Church today if we truly are living stones, and God dwells in our midst? In other...

Who we think Christ is dictates how we live, who we love, and what we proclaim. In the Gospels, Jesus asks his disciples who they say he is. Several answers ensue from his followers, but Peter definitively replies, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Believing this, Peter went on to spread the good news of Christ through the Roman Empire and, ultimately, to his own cross.

The land of milk and honey is actually a land full of rocks. There are stones everywhere and used for everything! As such, stones are a predominant theme throughout our faith and a metaphor for how we are to understand our identities and discipleship. Being a living stone is an apt description of our commitment to the Way of Jesus.

Happy 13th Anniversary, Spark!

Jesus takes the entire story of God that God’s people had carried with them, from the Garden of Eden to the pit of exile and back to the Promised Land, and he wraps that story firmly around himself. In the Gospels, we see Jesus embrace and embody the hopes and dreams of Israel’s salvation, with hopes of his own that are even bigger than what God’s people could’ve imagined.

"If anyone claims to live in him, he must walk as Jesus walked." (1 John 2:6) This core principle is the essence of Spark's mission statement, "To Inspire People To Live The Way Of Jesus." In our current socio-political and cultural context, we need a more robust and thorough understanding of this teaching that will help us understand and remedy the confusing, disconnected chasm that exists betwee...

As we approach the Gospels in our Garden to Garden series, we encounter the first-century world of Jesus, shaped by a deep devotion to the Text and the rabbinic discipleship system. Our journey continues through the narrative of the Bible with a closer look at Rabbi Jesus and the world of first-century discipleship.

Congratulations, Gardeners! We've traveled from the Garden of Eden to Nehemiah and Ezra and the rebuilding of God's House. And now we enter a time that protestants have long referred to as the 400 years of silence. But God is not silent! Much is being written, much history is happening and it is critical that we know and understand this culture and this time because it sets the stage for Jesus. Go...

Garden To Garden | Coming Home—The Return From Exile [Kristin Young] As promised, God does not keep his people in exile forever. The time has come for the faithful remnant to return home to the promised land of milk and honey. But what happens when home becomes an unexpected hard? How does the remnant remain faithful and learn from the mistakes of their ancestors? As we travel through Ezra and Neh...

While exiled in Babylon, the King adopts Daniel and his friends into his royal court, granting them privilege and power. All he asks for in exchange is total allegiance. The way Daniel deftly navigates serving the king while never compromising his service to the Real King serves as a bold inspiration for God’s people. The stories of Daniel in exile also introduce us to the “Son of Man” through who...

This week is storytime! The book of Esther is not what it seems. While in exile, in an unknown and foreign land, stories like this paradoxically reveal what they conceal.

This conversation centers on Life in Exile in the context of the book of Ezekiel. What does it mean to follow God in a new world, when all your religious practices have been stripped away and deconstructed? Where do we find God when in exile, when we are so far away from the house of God's Name?

Jonah is given an impossible call ... to go and preach repentance to a people who don't deserve it. The book of Jonah isn't just a children's tale about a man being swallowed and vomited by a big fish. The book seeks to transform the hearers, move us to compassion, even love, for our enemies.

Isaiah and Jeremiah voice dire warnings to the people of God. God's judgment is coming and Israel's Kingdom will come crashing down. And yet we are called to a greater hope - God is using all these world events to bring us to repentance and the pursuit of justice. We are not forgotten. God's blessings are not far off.

Israel demands a king like the nations. They make their way from Saul to David to Solomon, but after Solomon dies, the tribes fracture, dividing between north and south. As kings now rule over each kingdom, different prophets are called to speak truth to the powers. As we introduce the role of the prophets in our Grand Narrative, we listen in to what we might also learn from these voices today.

A closer look at the life and legacy of King Solomon.

As we continue navigating the early years of Israel’s monarchy, we quickly reach what Israelites will later look back on as the glory days — a united kingdom ruled by David, a heroic military leader and “a man after God’s own heart”. At the same time, we see a story within this story, in which God uses prophets like Nathan to hold kings like David accountable for the blood on their hands. The life...

“Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul…” Along with the launching of Israel’s monarchy are our hopes and dreams of a Big Strong Man who will heroically save us from all of our problems. The intersecting and conflicting vocations of Samuel as Prophet and Saul as King speak volumes about the many (often harmful) ways we pursue and protect power, highlighting all the more how bold and bi...

Since 2023, Aziz and Moaz have joined forces in their pursuit for peace, traveling globally and sharing their message of peace and hope with all who will listen. Together, they co-lead InterAct International, a non profit advancing sustainability, education, and cross cultural connections. Aziz and Maoz carry the weight of personal tragedies inflicted by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but they a...

Since 2023, Aziz and Moaz have joined forces in their pursuit for peace, traveling globally and sharing their message of peace and hope with all who will listen. Together, they co-lead InterAct International, a non profit advancing sustainability, education, and cross cultural connections. Aziz and Maoz carry the weight of personal tragedies inflicted by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but they a...

Today is remembered as Pentecost Sunday, a commemoration and celebration of the receiving of the Holy Spirit by the early church. In this special presentation, we witness what the experience may have looked, felt, and sounded like.