The Ryley Heppner Podcast

If you are ever a prisoner, what kind of prisoner will you be? I think it really depends upon this question: What kind of person/citizen are you now?

In this episode I chat with Dan Kreiss and Efrem Smith about their (bound to be impactful) new book, Church For Everyone: Building Multi-Inclusive Community For Emerging Generations. Among other things, Kreiss and Smith unpack for me what multi-inclusiveness truly is, how rooted it is in Scripture, why it can be so difficult and how it is ultimately fostered. As you listen I hope you are both enco...

Is there radical Christianity and non radical Christianity? Or is there just Christianity, and it is always radical?

In this episode I talk to Biblical Scholar Dr. Brent Sandy about his new book "Hear Ye The Word: What We Miss If We Only Read the Bible." Dr. Sandy describes ancient oral cultures, explains how the Scriptures would have been originally digested and passed around, and highlights some of what is being lost in our understanding of and interaction with Scripture today if we only ever read it and never...

In this episode I ask pastor and author John Hindley about his experiences planting churches in the city versus planting in rural towns, and how the strategies for the two are both similar and different. We also chat about his new book "Weakness Our Strength," and how God so beautifully uses weakness and weak people to accomplish His will. John Hindley is the pastor of BroadGrace church in Norfolk...

Stoked to be joined by Ben again to chat about everything from journaling to Bible Reading, to the difficulties of career and ministry transitions, to the absolute and undeniable importance of ending well in ministry, and really in all of life. Hope you enjoy!

In my conversation with American and church historian Mark Noll, we discuss the place and role of the Bible in the America's early settlement and development, the influence in the colonies of the great evangelist George Whitefield, and how biblical literacy in America (and Canada) has changed through the centuries. Dr. Noll is a leading church historian. He recently retired as the Francis A. McAna...

In today's conversation I ask Biblical Scholar, Dr. Tremper Longman III (among other things) to help me/us better understand OT books like Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs. What are the purpose of these wisdom books? How are they relevant to our lives today? And in what ways do they anticipate Jesus? As always, I hope you enjoy, I hope you are encouraged and challenged, and I hope you find yourself...

I had the pleasure today of speaking with NT professor, Dr. David Bryan. I asked Dr. Bryan about his work in the area of Jesus' parables, as well as about the ways in which the gospel writers wrote and the apparent contradictions between their timelines. Hope you enjoy and are encouraged by our conversation! Dr. Bryan is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School....

What is God's providence? What does it have to do with suffering? And how does it affect my life?

In some ways a simple question and in others a complicated one: What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? In this very brief video I give a bit of background to the word itself and then highlight a few passages that give it some nuance.

In my conversation with New Testament Professor, Dr. Ben Witherington III, I ask Dr. Witherington about his journey into scholarship, about the decline of biblical literacy in the west and about some of Jesus' teachings on money and the places where Christians struggle to live those teachings out. It was a pleasure to talk Dr. Witherington and I hope now that you are both as challenged and encoura...

Christians are to be led by the Spirit, but how do we discern the Spirit's leading? On top of that, when the Spirit leads us into painful and difficult things, how are we to endure where we have been led?

I had the privilege of chatting with New Testament Professor Darrell Bock. In particular I wanted to ask Dr. Bock about cultural engagement (a topic he has written on and taught on extensively), and how he thinks the western church is doing at engaging with and speaking gospel truth into the culture. Dr. Darrell Bock serves as the executive director of Cultural Engagement at the Hendricks Center a...

Whatever the reasons are, we all end up looking for a new church at some point. With that being said, what should we look for in a church?

Are there things that we have allowed into our lives that actually cannot be adapted but must be confronted and killed?

I was privileged to be joined today by Dr. Chris Watkin. In our conversation Dr. Watkin shared about his journey into scholarship and then spent time unpacking for me both the modern uses of the term deconstructionism and what Jacques Derrida called, "Religion Without Religion." Dr. Chris Watkin is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow and associate professor in European languages at Monash...

New Testament professor, Dr. Craig Blomberg joined me to share about his journey into academia, to talk about the relationship between the church and biblical scholarship and to share wisdom and insights into how Christians can navigate the complexities of the information age. Craig Blomberg is distinguished professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary, where he has been teaching since 1986. Blom...

Ben Jepsen was kind enough to be my guest today. Ben is just wrapping up twelve years of pastoral ministry, and I wanted to take the chance to pick his brain on the highs and lows, the ins and outs and the many lessons learned in twelve years of pastoring.

Last time the question was, 'Do idols still exist?' Having answered that with a giant YES, the question for this week is 'How then do we live in, interact with and confront an idolatrous culture?' Do we hide from it, or as the apostle demonstrated in Athens, do we seek to understand it that we might effectively speak the Gospel into it.

It is easy to think that idols don't exist anymore because we don't see bronze statues around town and people offering sacrifices to them. But what if we just have a misconception of idols? Maybe the bronze or the wood material or even the visible sacrifices being offered to them are not what make idols into idols. And maybe if we would change our concept of idols we would start to see that they a...

The story of how the books in the protestant Bible came to be gathered together and called the Bible is not a simple story, but it is an interesting story and a valuable story for everyone who makes these books and the words in them the authoritative foundation of their lives.

“Jesus is the Christ, son of the eternal, living God. He died for sinners and rose to life for us. He is my king and the king of the whole earth yesterday, today, and forever. I am his servant.” - Pastor Wang Yi (Currently serving a 9 year prison sentence in China for his pastoring of an unregistered church)