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Live in Community

If there’s anything the term “social distancing” has taught us, it’s that most people don’t like social distancing. Humans are hardwired to live in deep need of community, despite what all the introvert memes might joke about.

Photo: Unsplash, Helena Lopes

The Christian life is always meant to be experienced in the context of community and association with fellow believers. There is a great deal of relational health in godly community, and I’ve seen its benefits up close. People grow when they’re rubbing shoulders with like-minded followers of Christ who share their resources, keep one another accountable for godly living, put their phones down, and talk with each other. 

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How Our Culture is Lulling Us to Sleep

Going without physical food will yield pretty terrible results in your life, including malnourishment, extreme fatigue, organ failure, and eventually death. We as living human beings need food in order to function, let alone thrive.

Photo: Unsplash, Hayden Scott

Similarly, as Christians, we need the spiritual food of God’s Word to function and thrive. Without regular intake of reading and absorbing the Scriptures, we will become spiritually malnourished and thus susceptible to all kinds of attacks and injuries to take us out of the race in pursuit of God.

I’m reminded here of the section in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair when the evil Witch-Queen of Underland is attempting to bewitch the story’s four heroes, Jill, Eustace, Prince Rilian, and Puddleglum. She has them cornered in a room and Prince Rilian is demanding they be set free from Underland and return to Narnia.

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Truth Over Tribe

Before you vote on Tuesday, listen to this important conversation I had with Keith Simon and Patrick Miller—the guys from Truth Over Tribe.

Where do you pledge your allegiance? Is it to a specific political party or is it to Jesus? These kinds of conversations are INCREDIBLY important as we examine what it means to be loyal to Jesus over all else. I loved talking with Patrick and Keith, and I think you’ll really benefit from listening to this episode of Real Life Loading… wherever you get your podcasts.

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RLL… Episode #1 – Heather Holleman

I’m thrilled to say that the very first episode of Real Life Loading… is now available wherever you get your podcasts. And to kick it off with the best of the best of guests, we’ve got the one and only Heather Holleman helping us wade through Taylor Swift opinions, contentment in Christ, TikTok jealousy, and how to view yourself as a sent believer in Christ (amongst other important topics).

Heather Holleman

I loved my conversation with Heather, and I think you will too. Search for Real Life Loading… on any podcast platform and you’ll find us. New episodes every Friday!

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Coming 9.9.22—Real Life Loading…

Real Life Loading… will be a new weekly podcast from FamilyLife for 18-28 year olds, hosted by me. I’m thrilled that it’s finally going to be released!

It’ll be a 30 minute podcast coming out every Friday, but also released on the radio each weekend for parents and grandparents to listen in on what the kids are talking about these days.

There will be interviews, fun segments, practical advice, and gospel-saturated content on topics like:

Identity, theology, sexuality, mental health, dating, church, suffering, addiction, prayer, anxiety…and so much more.

And as we’re getting rolling, these will be my first round of guests:

Sam Allberry

Jen Wilkin

Paul David Tripp

Rachel Gilson

Rebecca McLaughlin

Jennie Allen

Alisa Childers

Garrett Kell

Justin Brierley

Dr. Michael Kruger

Tim Muehlhoff

Rechab Gray

Matt Smethurst

Dr. Heather Holleman

…and many more to come.

It’s also produced by FamilyLife, so we’re recording on professional equipment, we hired a professional artist to write the music for it, and it’s being mixed and mastered at the FamilyLife sound studios where they record the daily FamilyLife Today radio show.

I’m really excited about it, and prayerful that it will impact many lives in the coming years. My heart is to become a trusted friend who helps young people walk closely with Jesus in the context of their ever-shifting culture. I don’t want to claim to have all the answers, but sincerely admit that I’m just as much in process as anyone who’s listening.

In fact the tagline of the show is, “Somewhat anxious. Always authentic.,” and those 3 dots at the end of the title intentionally imply that I haven’t arrived.

Keep an eye out for it arriving on September 9th!

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The Kingdom Without the King

As much as we despise authority in our lives, human beings are in dire need of God’s authoritative rule.

Photo: Daria Volkova, Unsplash

And as culture tries to manufacture the utopian society it craves without the reign and rule of God, it must quickly recognize that it’s entirely impossible to fabricate what one pastor and author calls, “The kingdom without the King.”1

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Our Authority Issues

I don’t know who you think you are. That’s what Chris said to me, followed by some unsavory name-calling that genuinely hurt my feelings.

Photo: Luis Quintero, Unsplash

His reaction was strong—much stronger than I anticipated when I decided to hold him accountable to making more godly choices than he had in his recent past before he knew Jesus.

Chris was a sophomore in college, and I hadn’t seen him since he left Ocean City, Maryland seven months previous. I heard through another student that he had started drinking again and was back in the thick of the hard-partying lifestyle he committed to leaving only a few months before he arrived in Ocean City for the ten-week long summer mission I run each year.

I have been a full-time missionary working with college students for over twenty years, so I’ve seen students make the kind of choices Chris was making plenty of times before. But that didn’t make what he said to me any less painful.

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Episode 007 – Rechab Gray

Rechab Gray, Paul Tripp, Me

In this month’s episode of The Connecting Podcast, Rechab Gray joins Paul Tripp and me to answer some important questions about the beauty of God’s grace, and the wonder of the gospel.

Rechab is a dear friend of Paul’s and a new friend of mine! He’s a gifted preacher, currently planting New Creation Fellowship in Orlando, Florida. He has been married to his wife Brittany since 2009 and they have four amazing children.

You can listen to the episode HERE or click the image above to watch it on YouTube.

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Episode 006 – Lois Kehlenbrick

In this month’s episode, Paul and I are excited to introduce you to someone special – Lois Kehlenbrink.

Lois is a biblical counselor and a licensed marriage and family therapist. She worked at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City for several years, and she also happens to be the sister of Paul’s wife, Luella.

Lois trains and counselors pastors, their wives, and ministry leaders all around the world. In this interview, you’ll experience how the gospel truly connects to and transforms everyday life.

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The Problem with Wikipedia and Google When Trying to Get Authentic Information

Google has become, quite literally, the leading authority when it comes to our questions. We make the assumption that because it’s on page one after we hit “enter,” it’s delivering truth, but that is surely not the case. If you’re looking for basic information about any kind of subject and you type it into Google, often you’ll find that the Wikipedia page for that subject is first to come up at the top.

Photo by Sergey Zolkin, Unsplash

This is probably unsurprising to you as you’ve no doubt seen countless Wikipedia pages with droves of information on something you were curious about. But since Wikipedia is often the first source Google points you toward, that begs the question, “Is Wikipedia a reliable source for information?”

Ironically, according to Wikipedia itself, the answer is “no.” As I was researching, I typed Is Wikipedia a reliable source? into Google, and the top site that came up was a Wikipedia page saying it wasn’t. Naturally, I clicked on it, and this is what it had to say in further detail: