Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels by Kenneth Bailey is an interesting book. Here’s a description from the publisher: Beginning with Jesus’ birth, Ken Bailey leads you on a kaleidoscopic study of Jesus throughout the four Gospels. Bailey examines the life and ministry of Jesus with attention to the Lord’s Prayer, the Beatitudes, Jesus’ relationship to women, and especially Jesus’ parables. Through it all, Bailey employs his trademark expertise as a master of Middle Eastern culture... Read more

The greatest New Testament scholar alive is Craig Keener. Keener is the foremost expert in first-century history and NT studies. He’s the author of the massive multi-volume commentary on Acts as well as The IVP Bible Background Commentary of the New Testament. I know Keener, and he has no peer in the world of New Testament studies. He is, to put it bluntly, the best. Just after Keener is probably N.T. Wright (although some may elect Ben Witherington for that... Read more

Message 1: Living by the Spirit Message 2: If God Is For Us Read more

In our experience and observation, countless evangelical, postevangelical, Reformed, charismatic, and mainline Christians are not aware that the main subject of the entire First Testament (that is, the Old Testament) is Jesus Christ. But consider what Jesus Himself said about the Scriptures: “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!” It is for this reason that statements such as “according to the prophets,” “as it is written,” “according to the... Read more

The 100th episode of my Christ is All podcast is available to stream or download. It’s unlike anything you’ve probably ever heard in the Christian podcast world. For that reason, it defies a title or description. Warning: Only listen if you have a sense of humor. You can listen to the episode in the following ways: iTunes Podbean (Stream) RSS Feed   Read more

Here’s a conference message I delivered in Ohio called “The Unsearchable Riches of Christ.” Listen to the episode in the following ways: iTunes   Podbean (Stream)   RSS Feed   PODCAST ARCHIVES – click here to see the complete list of episodes on one page. Read more

Even though my best books have been written afterwards, my two old books on ecclesiology from 2008 – the evocative deconstructive title Pagan Christianity and the constructive sequel Reimagining Church are still being read widely. The websites for each book have been updated recently. Just click the links below to check them out. PAGAN CHRISTIANITY REIMAGINING CHURCH Note the extensive Q&A page on the Pagan Christianity website. Read more

“I am a Christian, not because someone explained the nuts and bolts of Christianity, but because there were people willing to be nuts and bolts.” ~ Rich Mullins Read more

“I’m looking for a new podcast … what do you suggest?” … … is the question I often see on my social media feeds, whenever my eye catches them. I always appreciate when someone answers, “The Insurgence podcast! It’s a must.” Thanks to all of you who listen. The Insurgence podcast is unlike most podcasts available now in the Christian space. The subject is the explosive gospel of the kingdom. And I have several conversation partners. The INSURGENCE podcast is... Read more

Here are two interviews that George Barna and I did together on the shape of the church to come: Audio Interview with George Barna and Frank Viola (short) Audio Interview with George Barna and Frank Viola (long) Read more