the Proclaim & Defend Podcast

Today we have something different for you. Normally I’m interviewing one of our authors from our FrontLine magazine. I am in the process of recording interviews for our next edition of the magazine, so we will return to that in due course. However, today I am talking to my friend Ben Hicks. He is the Associate Pastor at Colonial Hills Baptist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. He works closely with...

Entertainment disguised as worship isn’t worship. It’s idolatry. Ignorant worship is not worship at all. The ultimate authority on worship is Jesus, and He explained Himself very clearly in John 4. Let’s consider it. Situation Jesus is in Samaria by choice. The Jews did not have dealings with the Samaritans. The Samaritans were the remaining vestiges of the Israelites who remained in the land of I...

We continue our interviews with authors from our January/February edition of FrontLine on the theme: “It Takes a Church to Grow a Pastor.” Today’s episode is a discussion with Nathan Mestler, president of International Baptist College and Seminary in Chandler, AZ. Nathan offers us the article, “ Called in Community: The Local Church and the Shaping of Pastoral Ministry .” It gives us the practical...

The simple answer is that they probably didn’t. There were two groups of people. The Matthew account of the Triumphal Entry clearly delineates between the two. It was a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Jesus began telling the disciples that He was going to Jerusalem to die months before this trip. The book of Matthew records three separate instances where Jesus told his closest followers of his plan to go...

We continue our interviews with authors from our January/February edition of FrontLine on the theme: “It Takes a Church to Grow a Pastor.” This week our guest is Matt Klassen. His article is his own testimony about his call into the ministry after a long career in a field we don’t usually think of as a training ground for ministry. He’ll tell you all about that as he talks about how the Lord broug...

Note: Position statements of the FBFI are not the same as magazine articles on FrontLine or typical posts on Proclaimanddefend.org. They are crafted in a committee during our Winter Board Meeting, discussed by the assembled board members, edited by the board, and published as a collective statement of the position of our board on a particular subject. We do this when we believe it is important for...

A young man recently started on a journey to find God and a biblical place to worship. His friends were investigating Eastern Orthodoxy because it has an extremely prominent representation on Youtube. As he began visiting evangelical mega churches and asking about the differences, he was met with vapid answers. “Well, we are just glad you are showing an interest in religion.” “Maybe our church isn...

We continue our interviews with authors from our January/February edition of FrontLine on the theme: “It Takes a Church to Grow a Pastor.” This week it is Jeff Caupp, his article is on Mentoring, a subject that was much talked about a few years ago, but his emphasis is a bit different. Of course, we want to reach out to those who are growing as leaders and help them as much as possible, but each l...

We won’t always agree. No, let me rephrase that. We won’t ever agree—on everything doctrinal and practical about the faith. History indicates this and the Bible recognizes it. The Apostle Paul recognizes this in the early church regarding worship choices. Historically, Baptists have also recognized this in one of the key Baptist Distinctives—individual soul liberty and responsibility. We will all...

Today we begin our interviews with authors from our January/February edition of FrontLine on the theme: “It Takes a Church to Grow a Pastor.” I’ve got Dave Shumate with me to talk about this issue and his article in the magazine. Dave is a regular on the podcast and this time is what we call the “Associate Editor” for this edition of the magazine. That means he was involved in setting the theme an...

I must admit that I had not been keeping up with Child Evangelism Fellowship and its premier way of sharing the gospel with children—the Wordless Book. The Wordless Book uses simple colors as a framework for sharing the gospel. My mother trained with CEF before she was married and considered joining the organization as a missionary. I was first introduced to the Wordless Book before I could even s...

We are wrapping up our interviews for the November/December issue of FrontLine with this podcast. This interview is unique among all the others for this issue of the magazine as it combines the theme “Raising Children to be Adults in an Adolescent World” with a chaplains report. Alan Ashley is an FBFI endorsed chaplain with the Boy Scouts of America. As his son was growing up, he had a lot of invo...

We took a few weeks off over Christmas and are just now getting going once again. Today’s interview also comes from our November/December FrontLine magazine, which had the topic “Raising Children to be Adults in an Adolescent World.” In this interview, I’m interviewing Emily Haynes, whose article was called “Fostering Resilience in Young Adults.” I really enjoyed having this conversation with Emil...

“We need more young people in the church!” I hear this cry in lots of smaller churches across the country. Why would God give your church more young people, if the older people are spiritually stagnant and unwilling to sacrifice to build and encourage the next generation? Could it be that the problem in your church is you, not them? Revival always starts with me. For I know that this will turn out...

Instead of making New Year’s resolutions, write down a New Year’s prayer list. It is more advantageous, and it keeps our plans and goals for the coming year where they should be—in submission to the will of God. Start life change with prayer. Bathe life-change in prayer. Celebrate life-change with rejoicing in prayer. Let’s consider what a New Year’s prayer list might look like. Pray for yourself....

When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:25-26) This is the time of year for making resolutions. These are goals set for the year in which we seek to improve ourselves and our lives. It is usually about matters of habit an...

Pain? Sure. Hardship? Yes. Poverty? OK. Hard work? Count me in. Death? That one is very hard, but yes. Public humiliation? Uh, maybe not. Honor, duty. We value these things highly. Civil War commanders sent rows of young men to near certain death with the words “What will your family think of you if you run?!” Speech teachers know that fear of speaking in public rates higher for many than the fear...

We are talking to authors from our November/December FrontLine magazine, which had the topic “Raising Children to be Adults in an Adolescent World.” Our author this time is Matt Davis, the Chief Executive Officer at Maranatha Baptist University. His article was called, “A Mother’s Faith: The Forge of a Biblical Leader.” He was looking at the passages in the Scriptures that mention Jochebed, mother...

Editor’s note: The original audio file for this episode somehow ballooned to 34 minutes, mostly of silence. Our apologies. We have corrected the audio and are replacing the original post with this one. Last week, I was finishing a message on Matthew 19 regarding marriage, divorce, and remarriage. It’s a subject I dislike preaching on because the biblical data on divorce and remarriage seems unclea...

We are talking to authors from our November/December FrontLine magazine, which had the topic “Raising Children to be Adults in an Adolescent World.” Our author this time is my friend David Potter who wrote an article called, “Teach Them Diligently.” He is drawing from Deuteronomy 6 in reminding us of the importance of passing on the faith to our succeeding generations. Both David and I are grandfa...

Christians are converting to paganism in the UK in record numbers. This is according to a Times article. They are not going to Islam, Buddhism, or Judaism, but rather to atheism, agnosticism, and Wicca. It’s not true and let me explain why. When I was in high school, I kept bees as a hobby. One hot Arizona summer, I purchased 5 beehives from a friend of my father’s who was getting out of the busin...

We are getting back into our podcasting schedule here, just a few weeks before Christmas, and then we will take another break. Today we begin talking to some of our authors from the November/December issue of FrontLine on the theme “Raising Children to be Adults in an Adolescent World.” Our first author is Steve Love, who currently teaches at Maranatha Baptist University. I’ve only met Steve throu...

Our culture has a despotic ruler that is unwilling to submit to any of the firm laws of faith or reason. He has been allowed free run by virtually everyone, and not only has not been tamed, but has been deemed untamable by almost everyone. We have submitted to his whims without critique or question, and it is destroying us. The untamable ruler is our feelings or more technically, our emotions. In...

The question of whether Christians should celebrate Christmas has been debated for centuries. Some believers embrace the holiday as a time to honor the birth of Christ, while others reject it due to its historical associations with paganism and Roman Catholic traditions. Scripture provides guidance on matters of conscience: One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike....

Today we begin interviews with authors for the November/December issue of FrontLine, though today’s guest, Mark Love, was writing for a section of the magazine that is not part of the theme. I like to have authors of our regular feature pieces come on from time to time to promote those aspects of the magazine. Every issue, in the middle of the magazine, we publish a section we call the Pastor’s In...