Catechizing Conversations

Send us Fan Mail Prosperity theology doesn’t just get a few verses wrong, it shrinks the gospel until Jesus becomes a means to a better lifestyle. We open with a blunt warning: the health and wealth gospel promises what God never guaranteed, then leaves wounded people to carry the blame when the promise fails. If you’ve ever wondered why this movement keeps growing, or why it feels so convincing i...

Send us Fan Mail Most of us are trained to give answers fast, especially in ministry and leadership. But what if the better move is to slow down, listen longer, and ask the kind of question that helps someone finally see what is driving them? We sit down with Rev. Vincent Tauriello , pastor, professional coach, and founder of By Design Coaching, to talk about the theological foundations behind sou...

Send us Fan Mail Error doesn’t show up wearing a warning label. It shows up dressed in Christian language, quoting Scripture, and promising the one thing our culture already tells us to chase: the life that looks successful. That’s why we’re starting a special multi-episode series on the prosperity gospel, also known as the health and wealth gospel or the Word of Faith movement. We want to name wh...

Send us Fan Mail Your view of the human body is never “just theology.” It quietly shapes how you treat sex, work, suffering, dignity, and even what you think salvation is. We pick up in Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 4 on creation and move from the physical side of humanity to the confession’s striking phrase: “reasonable and immortal souls.”  We talk through classic Christian anthropolog...

Send us Fan Mail If someone told you your body is just optional hardware and the “real you” is whatever you feel inside, would you have the words to answer back with clarity and compassion? We open Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 4 and take up a deceptively simple claim with massive consequences: God created the world, and after making all other creatures, he created mankind male and femal...

Send us Fan Mail Leadership can feel like carrying everyone else’s weight while having nowhere safe to set down your own. That is why we sat down with Reverend Vincent Torriello, pastor, professional coach, and founder of By Design Coaching, to talk about  coaching that is both practical and  rooted in theology. His new book Drawing Out the Heart: Theological Foundations for Sound Coaching Practic...

Send us Fan Mail Predestination can feel like the doctrine that turns God into a math problem or a monster, depending on who’s talking. We refuse both options. Walking carefully through Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 3, we wrestle with God’s eternal decree, why Scripture speaks so plainly about election and reprobation, and why the confession insists this “high mystery” must be handled wi...

Send us Fan Mail “God ordains whatsoever comes to pass” can sound like a wrecking ball to your sense of freedom and fairness. We sit down with Westminster Confession Chapter 3 and take the doctrine of God’s eternal decree seriously, without turning people into puppets or turning God into a distant spectator. We walk line by line through the confession’s careful claims: God’s decree is wise, holy,...

Send us Fan Mail We’re joined by Dr. Chad Van Dixhoorn, professor of church history and theology at Reformed Theological Seminary and one of today’s leading Westminster Assembly scholars. Few men in our day have devoted more careful, sustained work to the Westminster Standards, studying both their historical setting and their theological substance. In this conversation, he offers a gracious and ac...

Send us Fan Mail Politics is everywhere, but it rarely feels personal. From cable news panels to social media takes, it’s easy to talk about “politicians” like they’re a single faceless group instead of neighbors made in the image of God. We sit down with Rev Ron Zeigler, a pastor serving full-time through Ministry to State at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, to talk about what it loo...

Send us Fan Mail The fastest way to misunderstand Christianity is to treat the Trinity like a math puzzle or a dusty debate from the fourth century. We pick up Westminster Confession of Faith chapter two and follow the doctrine of the Trinity where it actually comes from: the Bible’s own speech about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, with the Gospel of John front and center. Drew Brackbill...

Send us Fan Mail Pastor Cisco Victa sits down with Drew Brackbill to discuss Chapter 2 of the Westminster Confession of Faith, Of God and of the Holy Trinity. Together they explore what the Confession teaches about the nature and attributes of the one true and living God and how Scripture reveals that this one God exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In this conversation they begin to...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Catechizing Conversations , Cisco Victa and Drew Brackbill continue their study of the Westminster Standards by focusing on Westminster Shorter Catechism Q.2 and Chapter 1 of the Westminster Confession of Faith. They explore why Scripture is the only rule to direct us how to glorify and enjoy God, clarifying the Reformed doctrine of sola Scriptura . The conversa...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Catechizing Conversations , Cisco Victa and Drew Brackbill examine the formation of the biblical canon and the question: Who determines what counts as God’s Word? Tracing the history of the Old Testament from early Jewish recognition of the canon to the Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, and the debates of the Reformation, they explain why Roman Catholic and Orthodo...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when a former atheist returns to the college campus with the Gospel? We sit down with Micah Natal of DiscipleMakers to unpack how clear doctrine and real community take root in a place often defined by slogans, polarization, and noise. Micah traces his story from hearing a professor call the Bible “half myth,” to Micah's preaching in a house church, to the provid...

Send us Fan Mail Healthy Churches Grow with Tucker York Tired of constantly putting out fires while the mission of the church stalls? In this episode, we sit down with pastor and author Tucker York to discuss the core ideas behind his book, Healthy Churches Grow: The Pastor’s Guide to Reducing Chaos, Creating Momentum, and Leading His Church to Health . Drawing directly from the framework of the b...

Send us Fan Mail What would it take for every child entering foster care in our county to land in a safe, loving, gospel-shaped home? That question drives our conversation with Matt Stohrer of Keystone Family Alliance. Matt’s family has fostered 23 children and adopted nine, and he now helps churches turn conviction into action in caring for vulnerable children in Lebanon county. We trace his jour...

Send us Fan Mail Start the year by aiming at what matters most. We explore the opening line of the Westminster Shorter Catechism—“to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever”—and turn it from a memorized phrase into a lived way of seeing time, work, and desire. With 1 Corinthians 10:31 as our grounding, we unpack how ordinary moments like eating, resting, and doing our jobs can be offered as worship,...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Catechizing Conversations , we sit down with Max Myers, Director of the Lebanon Men's Rescue Mission, to discuss gospel ministry among some of the most vulnerable men in our community. Max shares the mission and vision of the Lebanon Men’s Rescue Mission, offering insight into how Christ-centered mercy ministry addresses not only physical needs like shelter...

Send us Fan Mail Why does the Westminster Catechism exist? In this episode of Catechizing Conversations , Pastor Cisco Victa offers a brief and intentionally elementary overview of the historical and pastoral context that gave rise to the Westminster Assembly and its catechisms. Set against the backdrop of the English Reformation, persecution under Mary Tudor, the rise of the Puritans, civil war,...

Send us Fan Mail In Part Two of our series on confessional Christianity, host Cisco Victa explores why merely identifying as a "Calvinist" falls short in today's evangelical landscape. Drawing on insights from historical Reformed theology, the episode critiques the rise of popular Calvinism as a "brand" detached from robust confessional orthodoxy. Through discussions on do...

Send us Fan Mail In Part 1 of this two-episode exploration on Catechizing Conversations, host Cisco Victa delves into the challenging question: If confessional Christianity draws boundaries, is it inherently exclusionary—and is that a bad thing? We examine our culture's deep-seated aversion to exclusion, rooted in historical atrocities, and contrast it with Scripture's call to clarity an...

Send us Fan Mail Why do we confess the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed in worship? Doesn’t that make us Roman Catholic? In this episode of Catechizing Conversations, we dismantle the common misconception that creeds and confessions belong to Rome. By walking through the Reformation debate on Scripture and tradition—especially Luther’s critiques—we show why Protestants have always been a creeda...

Send us Fan Mail Title: “Why We Need Confessions and Catechisms: Everyone Has a Creed” Brief Description: In this inaugural episode of Catechizing Conversations , Cisco introduces the purpose of the podcast and explains why confessions and catechisms are essential for the Christian life. Drawing from the early church, the Middle Ages, and the Reformation, he shows that catechesis is deeply rooted...