Out of Our Minds

So often we attempt to be aspirational in the setting of traditions in our families. What does that mean? It means we work hard to build traditions meant to project to others the "perfection" of our marriages, our childrearing, and our homesteads. Rather than cave to the pressure to portray the perfect home with the perfect traditions for the perfect children in the perfect marriage with the perfe...

Los Angeles burns and fire policy in California is exposed. Accountability and reformation ought to come. What can we learn about church reform from wildfires and fire policy? It is common for pastors to be punished when the fire of the Holy Spirit begins to burn. Fire ought to be allowed (planned burns); so, too, the Holy Spirit will burn for the good of our churches and people. Mentioned in the...

The most powerful man today is the man who has the best case for being a victim. Young men intuitively know this reality and are thereby inclined to victimhood. In every narrative about their lives, they portray themselves as victims. Conversely, real manhood is about taking responsibility and being an agent—not a perpetual victim. On the other hand, victimhood is not fake news. Some true victims...

Halloween candy and rhubarb pie Lithium batteries and Tesla fires An AI podcast summary of Evangel Presbytery’s book, Abortion and the Church . Twentieth-century growth in bloodshed Worldwide population decline Desensitized to life, death, and abortion GoPro videos, movies, and bloodshed  Men and war, women and childbirth True and false prophets Discernment and credulity Roman Catholic popes and E...

From Pulitzer Center: “ Germans Thought They Were Immune to Nationalism After Confronting Their Nazi Past. They Were Wrong ” Tim Bayly interviews Jürgen von Hagen on Christian nationalism, exploring its historical roots within the Lutheran Church during the Nazi regime. They discuss Toby Von Hagen’s (Jürgen’s son) thesis on the church's intertwining of theology and national identity, its subsequen...

Pastors Tim and Juergen discuss the latter’s education in Germany and his move to the United States to teach economics at Indiana University’s (now named) Kelley School of Business. Juergen recounts how he and his wife, Ilsa, came to faith through the witness and compassion of members of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA).   The discussion then turns to the discipline of economics, Juergen’s...

Around 1980, people around the world began speaking of "human flourishing." In 2000, the frequency of the phrase's use in media flourished exponentially . Be suspicious of new words and phrases taking the world by storm. As Chesterton said, before you take a fence down you must determine why it was erected in the first place. New words and phrases often arise to replace and relegate truths that ar...

Pastor Tim and Andrew reflect on one of the significant reset points in our year: the beginning of the new school year. The free-ranging discussion includes the following topics: How do you send your children off in the morning? The utility of school uniforms How to remove some decisions from your day because they drain your battery Avoid parenting books that guilt-trip you into conformity to the...

We have failed to teach our children and our culture the creation mandates: "God blessed them; and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply , and fill the earth , and subdue it ; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth'" (Gen. 1:28). We need to restore the faith that believes God's commands, particularly His creation ma...

In this episode, Pastor Tim Bayly is joined by his son, Joseph (Senior Pastor at Christ Church in Cincinnati), and son-in-law, Lucas Weeks (College and Administrative Pastor at Trinity Reformed Church in Bloomington, IN) to discuss parenting. We often think that our parenting is a failure if we have to resort to authority. That attitude is foolishness and an abandonment of God's rules for parentin...

History changes very quickly. Read the book of Esther. We've witnessed numerous surprising and sobering changes in the past two weeks. The performance of President Biden during the debate makes us question who allowed for (or orchestrated) such a sad spectacle. What if an assassin's bullet had killed former President Trump? What effect will this event have on his soul? Mentioned in the episode : D...

It must be understood that the Christian faith is never owned by any king or any party. A constant temptation of Christians is to be programmed by personalities. Rather than taking cheap, easy, stupid, and faithless shortcuts, we ought to be taught how to think. Primarily and tragically, we forget the doctrine of the sinfulness of all men (even our heroes) and the doctrine of the Fall. Learn in th...

The people of God know how to justify generosity toward themselves and stinginess toward the church and her shepherds. The Lord rebukes His people for such sin through the prophet Haggai: "Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 'Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?'" (Haggai 1:3-4) On the other hand, there are huckster...

Jürgen Von Hagen and Tim Bayly return to the studio and do some follow-up work on the war in Ukraine. Then they cover numerous other geopolitical, economic, and societal issues: Is America an empire Letters from listeners Milton Friedman and the welfare state Immigration and skilled/unskilled labor What is the value of human life? Under the Third Reich, the United States barred Jews from immigrati...

Rev. Dr. Jürgen von Hagen, the senior pastor of Free Evangelical Church in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany, and professor of economics at the University of Bonn, Germany, joins Rev. Bayly at the Michigan house for a free-ranging conversation on Ukraine, Putin, German church history, the European economy, and leadership. A quick summary of Jürgen's view: Putin won't be satisfied with Ukraine. Two book...

Out of Our Minds Podcast : Pastors Who Say What They Think. For the love of Christ and His Church. Out of Our Minds is a production of New Geneva Academy . Are you interested in preparing for ordained ministry with pastors? Have a desire to grow in your knowledge and fear of God? Apply at www.newgenevaacademy.com . Master of Divinity Bachelor of Divinity Certificate in Bible & Theology Groundw...

Parachurch ministries, political causes, and entrepreneurial enterprises seduce good men away from giving their lives to the Church and her pastoral work. How do we attract young men to the work of the Church during the formative years of their lives? College professors successfully shape their students, often in perverse ways. Why do pastors lack a similar zeal? What must pastors do to identify a...

The parachurch was an innovation of entrepreneurially-minded Christians during the twentieth century. They considered the Church to be old and in the way. Efficiency was the gospel need of the day, so cumbersome mechanisms like denominations, ordination, and church discipline were bypassed. Pastor Bayly and Andrew Henry discuss the rise of the parachurch, the glory of the Church, and how reforming...

There are very few places as divisive in today's church as the potluck lunch. When visitors come to our churches we are likely to hear them proclaim about their food orthodoxy before they say anything about their theology or church background. Tim and Andrew offer some helpful commentary about how to keep food from dividing the church. Show Notes The man Tim was trying to remember mentioned during...

The sins of abusers are heinous, but the sins of those who cover the sins of abusers are more heinous. For more on the scandal of Tenth Presbyterian Church, read this series on Warhorn Media. Scott Manetsch, Calvin's Company of Pastors: Pastoral Care and the Emerging Reformed Church . Richard Baxter on the sins of the eyes (pdf), taken from A Christian Directory . ★ Support this podcast on Patreon...

This is a special Christmas episode of Out of Our Minds Podcast. It is a recording of "How Silently, How Silently, a parable about Jesus arriving in Wheaton on December 23rd, in a snowstorm. The story is found in Bayly,'s The Gospel Blimp (and other parables . Out of Our Minds Podcast : Pastors who say what they think. For the love of Christ and His Church. Out of Our Minds is a production of New...

Andrew Henry, Tim & Mary Lee Bayly continue their conversation on children and danger, turning in this episode to speak of the dangers of sexual sin. How do we keep our children safe from sexual predators? How do we stay vigilant and responsive, doing the necessary work of protecting the vulnerable? Why are we tempted to keep the peace in the face of the sin of sexual predators? Part 2 of 2. L...

John Ensor (President of PassionLife ), Ben Sulser (of Church of the King in Evansville, IN, and Ensor's son-in-law), and Tim Bayly continue their conversation on abortion. The  first half  of the conversation roamed afield as we discussed singleness, womanhood, manhood, abortion, being pro-life, preaching, and the Church. This half turns to abortion, specifically, beginning with the difference be...

John Ensor (President of PassionLife ), Ben Sulser (of Church of the King in Evansville, IN, and Ensor's son-in-law), and Tim Bayly sat down and talked. We've broken the conversation into halves. This first half roams afield as we discuss singleness, womanhood, manhood, abortion, being pro-life, preaching, and the Church. The second half will be released next week and will turn to abortion, specif...

It is hard to say no in any context—especially to our children. Saying no is perceived as a denial of the power of God, a moralistic unkindness, or a lack of compassion. Regardless, we must be prepared to say no—as God does to us in His Word. In this episode of Out of Our Minds, Mary Lee Bayly joins her husband and our other fearless host, Andrew Henry. Along the way, they discuss the difficulty a...