Who was John the Baptist in the Bible? Meet the Prophetic Preacher who Prepared People for the Messiah
Who was John the Baptist in the Bible? John the Baptist, who lived in the wilderness of Judea, was a prophet and a preacher who prepared people for Jesus, the Messiah. Prophesied about in the Old Testament, John the Baptist was the “Elijah” figure in the New Testament. John called people to repentance and restoration...
Brayden Morrison
Don’t Miss This About Gen Z
Older generations are pretty hard on Gen Z. It’s easy to dissect what we believe to be generational weaknesses, but I want to share a few observations I’ve made serving these young men in youth ministry. In my opinion, something amazing is happening. I don’t want you to miss it. I just got back from...
Adam Rice
Review of Louise Perry’s ‘The Case Against the Sexual Revolution’
“The passions of a revolution are apt to hurry even good men into excesses.” —Alexander Hamilton All changes usher in a set of consequences, for better or worse. There are positive consequences that are expected. There are positive consequences that are unexpected. There are negative consequences that are known, but downplayed. There are negative consequences...
Bob Turner
What Does God Think About You?
What does God think about you? Take a breath and a long pause and ask yourself that question. Of all the questions I like—and I love questions—this has become one of the most ground-breaking for me. I suppose the question seems obvious, until you try to answer it. There are other versions: how does God...
Mark McCoy
Understanding Biblical Gender Roles
In the second episode of RENEW.org’s six part series on Male & Female: A Biblical Look at Gender, Bobby Harrington and Renée Sproles set up the framework for understanding gender roles and what the Bible says about the differences between…
Preaching: You’ll Never Know if You’ve Arrived if You Don’t Know Where You’re Going
The first question I ask when teaching my Doctor of Ministry course is, “What do you want your congregation to look like in a year?” Followed by, “For what do you want your congregation to be known within the local community?” The consistent reply to those questions is blank stares. My dumbfounded reply to the...
Chuck Sackett
Who Was Peter in the Bible? A Summary of Simon Peter’s Life
Who was Peter in the Bible? The way you understand the Apostle Peter may have been shaped by the church you attended. If you didn’t attend church at all, you probably laugh at the jokes suggesting “St. Peter” leads the pearly gate police, letting the dead know if they are in or out. In one...
David Fincher
I Will Not Put Those Shackles Back On
Christianity has a message of freedom. So why do a lot of people experience Christianity as bondage? The early church was tempted to turn Christianity into following Christ plus following numerous nonessential rules. Some early Christians communicated that new believers needed Christ plus circumcision and other cultural add-ons from the Law of Moses. This “Christ...
Orpheus J. Heyward
6 Ways to Teach Your Church Through Altar Calls
Close to a century ago, C.H. Dodd in his since-controversial The Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments argued for a distinction in the New Testament between the kerygma, the preaching of the Gospel to non-believers, and the didache, which he argued was moral instruction given to believers. In other words, Dodd would say when you speak...
Dylan Kirkland
Three Viewpoints on Gender Roles
In this final episode of our 6 part series on Male & Female: A Biblical Look at Gender, Bobby and Renée answer difficult questions that surround the complementarian view. Renée describes what a complementarian woman looks like in comparison to…
“Jesus is Lord”: A Revolutionary Echo from the Greco-Roman World
In the modern church, “Jesus is Lord” rolls easily off the tongue in sermon and song. It has invaded our vocabulary and become standard in our liturgy. As an ancient acclamation, however, it would have been more difficult to articulate. In the Roman world, recent converts would have gasped, and political prospects would have choked...
Mark E. Moore
Making Room for Hope
Want to seem like the smartest person in the room? Then be cynical. But is cynicism the way to truth? Could there be a hopeful way to interact with the world which is based in truth? Jonathan Storment, minister and…
Jonathan Storment
Jonathan Storment
Sinners or Saints? Coming to Terms with What We Are
“Golden bars of sunlight come sneaking through the shutters laying stripes on my back like a zebra Sweaty fingers turning pages, and clinging to the bed like it’s a bride and I never want to leave her Paul calls me a ‘saint,’ and the mattress shakes with laughter and the sheets let out a chuckle...
Jim Frech
Did Satan Waste His Last Temptation?
When you’ve been fasting longer than a day, food becomes a temptation. When you’re trying to get nationally known, popularity becomes a temptation. Likewise, when Jesus was fasting in the wilderness, Satan’s first two temptations would have been tempting. Jesus was hungry, so it made sense that Satan would tempt him with the “stones into...
Daniel McCoy
Summary of 1 Corinthians: Understanding the Basics of 1 Corinthians in the Bible
Here is a short summary of 1 Corinthians: 1 Corinthians was written to a young and struggling church in the city of Corinth. Paul had heard reports of divisions in the church and received a letter from the church asking all sorts of questions. The church was riddled with problems and 1 Corinthians sought to...
John Whittaker