N.T. Wright is someone who is highly respected in Christian academic circles across the board. Interestingly, he’s also highly respected among progressive Christians who lean toward the left (sometimes leaning hard) on both social and theological issues. I enjoyed spending several hours with Wright in conversation on our way to and back from a conference wherein we spoke together. We talked about many topics, including the Pauline authorship of Ephesians and the South Galatian theory (re: Galatians), which were particular... Read more

I’m happy to announce that we have resumed THE INSURGENCE PODCAST after hitting pause on it for 6 months. Today’s episode also marks a new direction. Listen to the new show – Episode #76 – in your favorite podcast app or on YouTube. And don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already.   Read more

Today, I want to talk about this business of having a “personal Savior” and a “personal relationship” with the Lord. Actually, I’ve already spoken on this subject. Here it is. As stated previously, the sinner’s prayer eventually replaced the biblical role of water baptism. Though it is touted as gospel today, this prayer developed only recently. D. L. Moody was the first to employ it. Moody used this “model” of prayer when training his evangelistic coworkers. But it did not reach popular usage until the... Read more

Check out the website called ExPastors.org. I recommend it for anyone who has left the pastorate or who is questioning it. Read more

So I’ve been reading reviews of the new film Left Behind. I’m surprised that Nicky Cage agreed to star in it. The reviews are beyond horrible. A 3% by critics on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing. Words like “horrible” . . . “awful” . . . “laughable” (not in a good way) . . . and “this movie does no favors for Christians.” Beyond the horrible script — according to most movie critics (what’s new, it’s a “Christian” movie,... Read more

In Finding Organic Church, I explore how Paul deliberately mentored, coached, and apprenticed his younger coworkers in Ephesus for a period of three years. Essentially, Paul repeated what Jesus did with the Twelve in Galilee in what A. B. Bruce called “the training of the Twelve.” The main difference is that Paul trained eight people instead of twelve. Interestingly, during the time that Paul trained these eight coworkers to carry on his work, he paid for their needs. Rather than taking... Read more

The Christ is All Podcast – over 120 episodes on the uncommon journey of knowing and following Jesus. iTunes Podbean PODCAST ARCHIVES – click here to see the complete list of episodes on one page. Read more

To get a discount on this amazing Bible software, GO HERE. This is it: The year you’re going to do deeper, more engaging Bible study. Oh, and it’s also the year you’re going to spend more time with family, exercise five times a week, consume vast amounts of kale, start writing that novel, and, if there’s time, achieve world peace. While you’re pretty much on your own with the majority of these resolutions (especially that kale one), there is a... Read more

In the 78th episode of my podcast, I share my reflections on Bono’s statements about Jesus that I posted on the blog recently. If you’re new to the podcast, be prepared to hear a few “commercials” sprinkled into the episode (we have to keep our sponsors happy, you know . . . Cough). The podcast ends with a (comical) blast from the past. You can listen to the podcast in one of three ways (below): iTunes Podbean (Stream) RSS Feed Read more

Michael Hyatt (former CEO of Thomas Nelson) once responded to a rumor on his blog. In the post, Michael wrote, “According to the most recent rumor—which I’ve now heard twice—we [Thomas Nelson] are planning a layoff for June 19th … There is absolutely no truth to it … If you hear this rumor, I would be grateful if you would help me short-circuit it. You can tell ’em it’s not true, and you heard it directly from me.” I recall... Read more