Vision For Life

Michael, Jesse, and Autumn discuss a current critique of pop culture presented by a VOX culture writer, how pop culture heroes come and go, and the shaping effect these shifting loyalties have on Gen Z and on all of us. So how should we engage in current media and art, namely film, shows, and literature? We turn to ancient wisdom, taught by "The Preacher" in Ecclesiastes, for our answer to this mo...

In our concluding discussion on prayer, Dave and Autumn respond to the following questions: 1. Do you experience seasons in prayer? 2. How do you process hard emotions in prayer? When should I do that in prayer and process with another person, too? 3. I keep asking God to help me not to be angry, but he won’t! 4. Does God speak to us in prayer? And if he does, how can we distinguish our own though...

Autumn and Hunter continue our New Year focus on learning how to pray. Because so much has been written about prayer and so many different prayer practices have been invented throughout history, we often need to simplify this habit. Fortunately, Scripture does make learning to pray simple. It gives us two places to focus, two types of model prayer: The Lord’s Prayer and The Psalms. Today, Autumn a...

Prayer, or communing with God, is fundamental to life with God. Scripture itself teaches us to pray. Though countless books, articles, and infographics exist on methods of prayer, the normative prayer practices found in the Bible are The Lord's Prayer and The Psalms. Autumn and Hunter discuss The Lord's Prayer as a basis for daily time in prayer with God and examine four patterns of prayer that em...

Autumn and Hunter discuss their favorite reads of 2021. Books mentioned in this show: "Sodom and Gomorrah" and "Swann's Way" by Marcel Proust "Crossroads" by Jonathan Franzen "Pastoral Song: A Farmer's Journey" by James Rebanks "Jayber Crow" by Wendell Berry "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" by Joan Didion "The Lincoln Highway" by Amor Towles "Martin Luther, vol 1: His Road to Reformation, 1483-1521"...

Thank you for listening to the Vision for Life Podcast! We are taking a two-week break to reflect on the joys and difficulties of 2021 and the many ways we’ve experienced God’s sustaining presence through both. We hope you take some time to do the same. Autumn and Hunter will return on January 5th to share their best reads of 2021.

During Advent, we pause. Advent means "coming" or "arrival." In these weeks preceding Christmas we pause to look back to Jesus' inauspicious arrival on earth centuries ago and to look forward to the day when he will come again. We refer to Jesus' birth, the Son of God coming to earth, fully God and fully man, as the "incarnation." Hunter and Autumn discuss the meaning of the incarnation, God's des...

Twentieth century theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Advent season is a season of waiting, but our whole life is an Advent season, that is, a season of waiting for the last Advent, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth.” A celebration of Advent is an invitation to waiting. We wait, we look forward to Jesus' return, and we anticipate the glorious restoration of all of cre...

The season of Advent is upon us! Advent means “coming” or “arrival.” During Advent, we look back to Jesus’ first coming when God quietly sent His baby Son to begin a great rescue. And we look forward to Jesus’ second coming when He will return as a triumphant King to set all things right. Advent is a time of waiting, longing, and hoping, but our waiting is not a passive patience. Advent invites us...

At the end of a long and stressful year, the practice of giving thanks is easy to skip but especially important. With this in mind, Autumn and Hunter discuss four themes of thankfulness, where we see God working in the life of our church. Happy Thanksgiving! The podcast will return on December 1.

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This week, Hunter and Autumn discuss the characteristics of cancel culture and its effect on the church. Cancel culture is characterized by ad hoc standards of righteousness, assumption of motive, and a mob mentality. Within the body of Christ, however, we are to experience a joyful, relational community. Being overly shaped by a culture that is practicing judgment prevents us from experiencing th...

Autumn and Hunter open the mailbag and discuss three questions from listeners. The first question concerns the difference between listening to well-known preachers via podcast vs. relating to your local church and local pastors. The next two questions concern evangelism, with an emphasis on the role of God's Word in sharing faith and helping people come to faith in Christ.

Glennon Doyle is an archetypal American celebrity, embodying trends in the broader culture in a concentrated way. Her writing, podcast and Instagram function as popular wisdom literature marketed to women. On this week's episode, Autumn and Hunter discuss a review of Doyle's career published in The New Yorker. In "Glennon Doyle's Honesty Gospel," Ariel Levy reviews Doyle from within a secular fram...

In recent years, 36 states have legalized or decriminalized marijuana for either medical or recreational use or both. Colorado led the way. Living in a place in which weed is ubiquitous and legal raises interesting questions for followers of Jesus. Does the Bible provide wisdom for navigating this cultural issue? Is marijuana use allowable for Christians? Should Christians participate in the marij...

A listener-submitted question wrestles with Jesus' vision to be "in the world not not of the world" as it relates to educating children - especially in the public education system which indoctrinates students with a modernist vision of sexuality and gender at an increasingly early age. How are wise parents navigating this reality? Autumn is joined by Dave and Hunter to discuss the challenges of ra...

New City Catechism question 32 asks, "What do justification and sanctification mean?" In the sermon from September 26, 2021 we learned that these two words summarize the gospel's gift of "righteousness." Justification is our declared righteousness before God; sanctification is our gradual growing righteousness. And the order is essential - justification BEFORE sanctification. In this week's episod...

Autumn, Hunter and Michael discuss a book review of Breaking the Social Media Prism by Chris Bail. In his review, Timothy Keller observes that social media is driving polarized thinking and polarized relationships - but not for the reasons we're commonly told. Rather than being driven by algorithms, social media is driven by our own, modern need to construct and express an identity. "Social media...

Introducing "VFL Culture" episodes, where we discuss a topic of public debate through the lens of biblical wisdom. Hunter and Autumn (reluctantly) dive in to everyone's favorite family argument: Should I get the COVID-19 vaccine? Is there a possible "religious exception" reason to refuse the vaccine if mandated? And what if I land in a different place on this than my friends, fellow church members...

Autumn and Hunter discuss two listener-submitted questions. First: In light of last week’s conversation on the fracturing of evangelicalism over “secondary” issues, how do we actually distinguish between “gospel issues” and “cultural issues?” Can you give us some guidance on how to know the difference? Second: In light of recent events in Afghanistan, how can we pray for and support Christians who...

Introducing a new podcast feature, "VFL Reads," where we read and discuss an article or book that helps us think about following Jesus in our world. This week, Autumn, Hunter and Dave discuss "The Six Way Fracturing of Evangelicalism" by Michael Graham, published at mereorthodoxy.com (link below) "Evangelicalism" is a movement that emerged in the 1940's, differentiated from both "modernism" and "f...

In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus compares his followers to a lamp. A lamp's very nature, its intended purpose, is to give off light. That is why, Jesus adds, people put a lamp on a stand; there it will give light to all in the house. He continues with an admonition to those listening to "let your light shine before others." In the same breath, Jesus acknowledges the temptation to hide, which he compares...

The church is called, not to fit in with it's surrounding culture, nor to go to war with it, but to lovingly challenge it. Followers of Jesus - the church - challenge culture in love through a biblically distinctive posture, practices, and priorities. Our current sermon series considers some of the church's distinctive priorities, namely gathered worship and investing in the next generation. Putti...

In the final installment of our Daily Life with God conversations, Hunter and Dave talk about what it’s like to cultivate a relationship with God over many years. They discuss habits they’ve always returned to and the mysterious experience of the Lord’s distance or absence, when what used to “work” doesn’t work anymore and what He might be teaching us in those seasons.