Renovate

Are the lenses we look at dating, marriage and love distorted? We broke into the studio this past week and recorded a follow-up conversation to Ben's talk at Renovate Live earlier this month with some special guests. You're going to want to hear these hot takes on dating from Matt Lantz and Amy Foster as they respond to and elaborate on three big areas that we all tend to navigate poorly when it c...

Some of our relationships are smooth sailing but some of our relationships are honestly really jacked up. Why? Why do we get it wrong so often, or make so many mistakes after a stretch of things seeming to go so well? Maybe it’s because we’re looking at our relationships through a wrong or distorted lens. The way we look at dating, the way we see the opposite sex and the way we see ourselves are w...

We welcomed two really special guests into the studio this week to respond to Ben's talk from Renovate Live earlier this month on the narrow road to unity over race and politics. Join us for this follow-up conversation as we try to navigate the best way to follow Christ when we are fearful or frustrated at the broken world around us. Want to get to know us better? Reach out to us at www.renovateft...

Our world has become increasingly polarized and volatile. That’s certainly true when it comes to racial and political views in our culture. Are we too woke or are we too indifferent? To what degree do our convictions shape our politics? How do we maintain unity when it feels like people around us are increasingly hostile? Join us as Ben steps into a conversation on what to do when our minds run to...

Welcome to our follow-up conversation on the Renovate Live talk, "Who You Say I Am," where Ben shared an alternative to the defensive vs. defeated mindsets we so often find ourselves in when grappling with who we want to be. Our guests Lilly Park (Ph. D, author and professor of biblical counseling) and Ryan McCarthy (pastor and biblical counselor) explore hot topics like guilt, shame, anxiety, dep...

We're constantly asking ourselves who we are. We develop, work on, exercise, mature, educate and refine ourselves; and we ask a lot of questions along the way. Questions like: "Who do you want me to be?" or if we're feeling particularly healthy, "Who do I want to be?" But the reality underneath all of our personal development and refinement is that we actually started with something broken that we...

What purchases your entry into the Kingdom is not your works, deeds or track record. It's God's grace!

Did you know there’s a right and wrong way to follow Jesus? Did you know the teachings of Jesus aren’t suggestions on ways we should live? When Jesus came, He came to establish His kingdom. And like any kingdom, there are expectations of how its citizens are to function. The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ inaugural address. It’s His declaration of what it means to be a citizen in the Kingdom of God...

While community involves our brothers and sisters in Christ, it doesn’t stop there. It’s not a social club for like-minded people. It’s a vehicle for taking the message of the gospel to the world. While we show love to one another, we also show to love to those who are far from Jesus.

A community built solely on a grace is a lopsided community. Is grace of monumental importance? Yes. But a community also needs truth. A healthy gospel-centered community is one that knows people need to hear hard things from time to time. A healthy gospel-centered community is one that doesn’t shy away from correction or rebuke. A healthy gospel-centered community is one that can walk the line be...

So much of the Christian life is spent pretending to be who we think we should be. We talk a big game about vulnerability. And while we might be transparent from time to time, we’re rarely truly vulnerable. We rarely allow people to see the parts of who we are that bring us deep shame. Why? Because we fear that is people really knew us, they wouldn’t love us. The gospel, however, frees us to stop...

Every person on the planet craves community. But not all communities are created equal. And since we’re so desperate for community we’ll oftentimes settle for community that is less than ideal because a community is better than no community. But what if there was a community that strove to provide a space to be fully known and fully loved? What if there was a community uniquely designed to bring a...

There is a big difference between guilt and shame: Guilt says, "I made a mistake." Shame says, "I am a mistake." When we find ourselves struggling, what do we do? Last night we began a discussion about mental health. It wasn't all-inclusive, but it was a great reminder that our experiences matter because they shape the way we view God, and that we can make a choice to allow the gospel to rewrite o...

Josh Storie, Dusty and Elle Oglesby