Church for Normies

The opening of The Seals ... it is the beginning of the end! A vision of catastrophe and mayhem! The very definition of the Apocalypse! Well, not really ... Yes, the last one, but the others, calm down. This is not a Michael Bay film! So what do the opening of the Seals by the ONE AND ONLY JESUS, The Lamb and Lion of Judah, mean? How does that change what I do now? Listen-in on this conversation!...

It's a Church for Normies OFF THE GRID Day! What's that mean? It's when Nate is away, but Sean makes some excuse to keep talking. Well, it's also support information for some very important things that are happening: Father's Day, fathering, masculinity that is Biblical, the 1613 Conference, the Mid-Term Spiritual Maturity Survey (and why you should take it), and why authentic...

"It's about as interesting as watching grass grow." Ever heard that phrase? It's the somewhat sarcastic comment one might make when rendering something as boring. But ask any homeowner who desires the deeply verdant, non-dandelioned yard, and they'll tell you - it takes work! The greenness in all plants comes from special cells called chloroplasts , which enable photosynthesis , the process of con...

"I like your Christ," he confessed to the missionary. "But I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ." Who was that man? Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi - the East-Asian Indian counterpart to America's George Washington, who led his people to a new identity outside of British colonial rule. Ghandi had to endure a constant barrage of racism, classism, and ineq...

Gal. 4:4-5 says "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons." Our eye quickly (and with good reason!) is drawn to our redemption and adoption. However, God's Lamb, the subject of our atonment, his only begotten Son, had to be phyically birthed into this world - and it be...

“ What would you do if you knew you only had a few minutes left to live ?” It's concievable that how you answer that question will not only sum up the practical philosophical/theological beliefs in your life, but also how committed you are to them in reality. In this third message in Nate's series of "The Easter Challenge", Nate challenges us to accept the reality, the responsibi...

The historical event of the resurrection of Jesus is a curiosity to a secular or disdainfully naturalistic culture. Maybe they have a point? If he's alive - truly not dead - why isn't he walking around now? Why lead the world on like this? They demand irrefutable proof to tests they demand answers to. But as research author Craig Mertler said, "a valid test is always reliable, but a r...

What's the difference between satiety and contentment? (We know ... WHAT?!) "Satiety" is the physical and psychological feeling of fullness and satisfaction after eating, which eases the feelings of hunger and keeps you from continuously feeding. Imagine if you never felt full ... Since we live in a time of relative plenty, we actually have to work hard at disciplining not only WHEN...

Have you ever written or received a letter that warns you about certain people who may cause you harm? That's what Paul did in Philippians. But more than that, he used it as a springboard to launch into what is the essence of a maturing relationship with the Living God and to find out that this was his intention for humankind all along. Nate's on vacation this week, so Sean filled in! What...

The Gospel is disruptive. It always has been and always will be. In fact, in Thessalonica, it's introduction to the city caused a riot. It's detractors accused Christians of turning the world upside down (Acts 17:6), not understanding that the Gospel frees us to see clearly and live peacefully in accordance to God's original intent. Maybe it's not that the Gospel makes things upsid...

What is the opposite of joy? Sadness? No, because "Christian" joy is not really an emotion like sadness. It is an objective settlement and peace that is concretely outside their control. It looks like happiness, but it's really not. Joy can be present with the Christian even when our circumstances are at its worst. Like death. Yet Paul declared that a Christian can say, "For or...

Have you heard of Spencer Silver and Art Fry? If you've used Post-it Notes (or some generic equivalent), you can thank them! In 1968, the 3M industrial chemists were working on "super strong aircraft adhesive" - and failed by only making a "low tack" adhesive. (Sigh!) Their "microsphere" adhesive left them perplexed. But Fry, a church-going man, wanted a bookmark...

"Joy," wrote GK Chesterton, "which was the small publicity of the pagan, is the gigantic secret of the Christian." How is that possible? Because the world equates happiness for joy. And because it will always be based on subjective, circumstantial experiences, happiness will always be dependent on how well things work for you. But Christian joy will always be a gift given from...

Well, we had a snow/ice storm in Roswell, NM ... and it shut us down for a half a week! (which is why this is late!). But take heart! Adversity makes us stronger! Right? It reminds me of a contemporary adage: "The pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow. Or you could die from it. It's hard to know with these things sometimes." Just kidding! But in the spirit of WHA...

Author James Clear wrote: "Your choices create leverage. A good initial choice (like choosing the right thing to work on or the right person to work with) can deliver 100x payoff. Working hard is important, but working on the right thing is even more important." Of course, that's the trick, isn't it? Choosing the RIGHT thing? How do you do that? The Bible is very clear: "The...

Jim Collins wrote: "Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don't have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life." Obviously...

The Key to Success in 2026. If you go to Rome, just west of the Colosseum, is The Ponte Fabricio : a beautiful, stone, double-arch pedestrian bridge over the Tiber river that you walk over to get over to the Isola Tiberina island. What most people may not realize is that that bridge is 2,088 years old. That's right, it was constructed in 62 BC. It is one of the oldest, extent, structures still in...

"If you expect nothing, you'll never be dissappointed," said one commedian. While sardonic in it's attempt at humor, the irony does seem to hit close to home: Doesn't it make more sense to keep our expectations low? But we can't live like that. That's certainly not the attitude the faithful in the Bible had! This phrase seems better: "Every disappointment gives y...

Have you ever heard of "the Long Peace"? It's the period of history from 1945 (the end of WW2) all the way to the present. For 80 years, now, it has been argued that while there have been relatively small skirmishes, there has not been the large, global embroilment of conflict that has caused millions of deaths. Perhaps to you, that's small comfort, and that's understandable....

"Long lay the world in sin and ever pining, ‘Til He appears and the soul felt its worth A thrill of hope; the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn." So goes the second verse of "O Holy Night," where it is hope that thrills us. Hope. Hope is a distinctly Christian word. But hope in modern nomenclature usually suggests that desired outcome has a possibi...

“There are only three kinds of Christians when it comes to world missions: zealous goers, zealous senders, and disobedient.” That sentence was written by John Piper, a pastor in Minnesota. What do you think, when you read that? Is it negative, positive, sobering, judgemental? Regardless, Piper would say that he means for it to be provocative. To provocate literally means "to call forth"...

Business can be a tricky thing - which is why half of all businesses fail within 5 years. They have to pivot quickly, and respond to market changes and customer expectations. But one thing that will only confuse everyone and lead to poor business is mission creep. Mission creep is when an entity's goals gradually expand beyond it's original goal, becoming too complex, inappropriately stret...

F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, said that "Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind." When we think of the Mission of God the Father to Redeem and Re-Create a Family of his own for a future Glory, it was through the impassioned work of His Son, the Lord Jesus, that it was put into effect. And when it came down to ensuring that Mission would endure wh...

At the risk of appearing reductionist, let's propose a comparison: Does the Church have a Mission or does the Mission have a Church ? The Mission being the fulfillment of the Great Commission given by the Lord Jesus Christ to every disciple to go and make disciples of all nations. It's not simply and equation change, it has implications on the purpose and reason-for-being of all who call t...

Even though the Bible says that the "anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God" (James 1:20), it seems to be our go-to emotion. What does that mean for this emotion? What do we do with it? Is it always bad? In this interesting podcast, Nate, Sean, and Adam use the background of David in his confrontation with Nabal to discuss how anger can lead us to do extraordinarily dange...