Conversations with Pastors

Drawing from James 4, Bob Whitney challenges our natural inclinations—that the source of our spiritual conflicts isn't found in our circumstances, our relationships, or our environment, but within ourselves. James asks a piercing question: what is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? The answer is uncomfortable yet liberating: it's our own pleasures that wage war within us. This isn't a...

This week, James Jeong turns to Hebrews 11 and challenges us to reconsider faith not as an emotion we conjure up, but as a deliberate act of yielding to God's authority over our own perceptions. We discover that faith is fundamentally about agreement—choosing to align ourselves with God's truth even when our feelings, our culture, and our circumstances tell us otherwise. The discussion walks us th...

When we find ourselves walking through seasons of profound darkness—when prayers seem unanswered, circumstances remain unchanged, and God's purposes feel hidden—we face a critical choice. Isaiah 50 presents us with a striking reality: sometimes God-fearing, Christ-following believers are called to walk in darkness without light. This isn't a sign of spiritual failure or divine abandonment; rather,...

What if the songs we sing aren't just pleasant additions to our worship, but essential expressions of our faith? This week, Dan Kreider challenges us to reconsider music's role in our spiritual lives, moving beyond mere preference to biblical mandate. Drawing from Psalm 40, he reminds us that God has put a new song in our mouths—a song of praise that isn't meant to be kept private but shared so th...

This conversation with Matt Waymeyer invites us into one of life's most sobering yet essential considerations: how we as believers prepare for death. At the heart of this discussion lies Paul's powerful declaration in Philippians 1:21—'For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.' We're challenged to examine whether this perspective truly shapes our daily existence or remains merely an aspirat...

When life throws us a curveball—whether it's an unexpected job loss, a sudden health crisis, or any major disruption—our first instinct is often to grumble, complain, or retreat into fear. But Kempiz Hernandez helps us see something profound about those reactions: they expose what we truly believe about God. Do we really trust that He is sovereign over every detail of our lives? The discussion dra...

This week Brandon Taylor joins us to talk about the new church plant in Port Saint Lucie. When thinking about how to reach a new community, Brandon explains that he came out of a worldly background—whether enslaved to immorality, drugs, or the shallow waters of superficial Christianity—and how those things create a burden for those still trapped in darkness. The discussion centers on Psalm 16, whe...

This week, we talk to Whitney Oxford. He helps us understand that there's a difference between sharing a life story and sharing a testimony. Your testimony isn't about hitting rock bottom or dramatic circumstances. It's about the unchanging gospel colliding with your life. Every true Christian testimony contains the same elements: God's holiness, your sin, Christ's substitutionary death, and the S...

This week, Dave Temple joins Rob Jorgensen and takes us to Proverbs 23:22-23. There, we're confronted by the powerful command to 'buy truth' and acquire wisdom, instruction, and understanding. But what currency do we use in this transaction? The answer is both simple and challenging—we must lay down our own will. This is especially poignant for young people navigating the intense passions of adole...

What does it really mean to have free will when God is sovereign over everything? This week Rob Jorgensen talks to Scott Christiansen to discuss his book Defeating Evil. Scott tackles one of the most misunderstood concepts in evangelical Christianity: the relationship between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. We discover that the popular notion of libertarian free will—the idea that we...

Pastor Jerry Wragg offers a challenging truth from 1 Corinthians 4: even our own self-examination means nothing compared to God's evaluation of our lives. This isn't about abandoning self-reflection, but rather ensuring we're measuring ourselves against the right standard—Scripture, not our own reasoning or cultural norms. The Corinthian church fell into division and compromise because they evalua...

This conversation invites us into a profound exploration of genuine repentance through the lens of Psalm 51, David's heartfelt confession after his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah. We're challenged to examine whether our own repentance mirrors David's broken humility or merely consists of shallow apologies designed to escape consequences. The discussion presents repentance as a stairca...

In a world obsessed with self-promotion and instant gratification, we're invited to examine a radically different model of purpose and contentment through John the Baptist. This week, our conversation with Mike Kotecki challenges our young people to confront the cultural pressures that keep them in perpetual adolescence—whether it's the endless scroll of social media creating impossible expectatio...