The Saturate Podcast: Recent Episodes
Saturate
Saturate is committed to seeing a gospel movement happen in North America and beyond in which every man, woman, and child have a daily encounter with Jesus in word and deed. This podcast is an ongoing conversation with disciples, leaders, and experts growing in the gospel and growing in living the implications of the gospel in community and on mission.
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt talks with Josh Benadum about his book, A Life That Leads, which explores the foundational role of character in leadership.
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt introduces Abe Meysenburg as the newest member of the Saturate team, providing oversight to Leader Health initiatives.
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt talks with author and professor Chuck DeGroat, who proposes that true transformation requires moving beyond habit formation.
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt talks with Ben Connelly about his newest book, Sent Churches, Sending Churches.
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt introduces Todd Engstrom as the new Integrator for the Saturate team.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Jeff Vanderstelt and Peyton Jones discuss the urgent need for a shift from simply attending church to a mobilization movement centered on active disciple-making.
including connection, prayer, serving the city, mentoring, and healthy leadship. Ultimately, their goal is to see everyday followers of Jesus equipped and mobilized to live as His people on mission in their own spheres of influence so that every person in their city can meet Jesus.
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt and Matt Broweleit, the Executive Director of Together for Seattle, discuss how this collaborative movement emerged, forming trust and connection among siloed churches and ministries.
Listen in as Soma Tokyo pastors Yoshito Noguchi and Jon Cole share with Jeff Vanderstelt the vision and challenges of church planting in one of the world’s most spiritually resistant landscapes: Tokyo, Japan.
series, Jeff Vanderstelt pulls back the curtain on the often-neglected later stages of spiritual growth...
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt unpacks the “spiritual young adult” stage of the disciple-making pathway, where mentoring and apprenticeship become essential. A development culture is key for this stage, with opportunities for hands-on ministry experiences, and the freedom to fail and learn. Spiritual young adults also need to discover their unique GPS (Gifts, Passion, Story), how to stand firm against the enemy’s schemes, and step into leadership with both resilience and grace.If you’d like to explore your own journey as a disciple of Jesus, check out the free Disciple’s Pathfinder here: https://saturatetheworld.com/explore-disciples-pathfinder/
s” in community. During this stage, spiritual children also learn to feed themselves through prayer and Bible study, grow in gospel fluency, and take responsibility to serve others in their spiritual family. You’ll be encouraged to consider your own personal faith journey while you also contemplate how you might develop others in their own journey.
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt explores what it means to establish spiritual newborns in their faith, drawing powerful parallels to caring for a physical infant. He unpacks five essential practices—from affirming identity in Christ to nurturing growth through community, being spiritually fed and learning to give voice to one’s spiritual needs—that help new believers become rooted and thriving disciples. Listeners are invited to reflect on their own spiritual foundation and consider how to better support others in this vital stage of the disciple-making journey.
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt unpacks the very beginning of the Disciple-Making Pathway, focusing on those who are spiritually unborn. He emphasizes the power of radical hospitality—creating non-pressured, authentic spaces where people can experience God’s love through listening, presence, and tangible acts of service. This lifestyle of welcome and care naturally opens the door to sharing the hope of Jesus and inviting others to follow Him.
raising up new generations of disciples. As you listen, consider your own journey and what you may need for your current stage on the Pathway. It may also provide some insight around how to frame up the developmental stage and needs of those you are leading as well.
Join Jeff Vanderstelt and Doug Paul this episode of the Saturate Podcast as they explore the art of kingdom innovation and its transformative impact on Christian leadership. Discover how to overcome barriers like fear and the "curse of knowledge" through practical, time-bound experiments that drive change. Learn actionable steps from Paul’s five-phase innovation process to help leaders adapt, grow, and embrace cultural relevance.
Discover how churches can ignite true spiritual growth by engaging both the mind and heart in this conversation with Michel Hendricks and Jeff Vanderstelt. Learn why joy is essential for character formation and how a discipleship model can help communities thrive. Packed with practical insights, this episode will inspire you to cultivate a culture of love and emotional maturity that mirrors Jesus.
Join Jeff Vanderstelt and Mindy Caliguire of Soul Care as they explore how leader health fuels gospel saturation, and share insights from Mindy’s new book, Ignite Your Soul. Discover how to thrive amidst burnout, embrace spiritual formation, and foster collaboration in ministry. This powerful conversation will inspire you to balance soul care with impactful leadership.
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt sits down with Neal McGlohon and Craig Tuck to explore the powerful vision of gospel saturation in Charleston, South Carolina. Together, they discuss the Cypress Project’s mission to equip church leaders and planters for Kingdom work that extends beyond their individual churches, fostering collaboration across the city. This conversation dives into the five key initiatives driving gospel city movement in Charleston, from citywide prayer to new Kingdom initiatives, and the transformative impact of a unified, city-wide effort to bring the gospel to every woman, man, and child.
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt and Jennie Allen dive into the topic of emotional health, revealing why true vulnerability and processing emotions in community are essential—especially for leaders. Jennie opens up about her personal journey toward emotional wholeness, sharing insights from her book Untangle Your Emotions. She also sheds light on a remarkable movement among college students and young adults, showing how God is powerfully at work in this generation. Plus, Jennie extends an exciting invitation to Gather 25, a transformative 25-hour global church event on March 1, 2025, focused on prayer, worship, repentance, and uniting to make a lasting impact in the world. Don’t miss this inspiring conversation on emotional healing, leadership, and what God is doing today!
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt and John Mark Comer discuss what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. True discipleship of Jesus is a relational process of deep, loving attachment with God and others. People can tend to emphasize one aspect of being a disciple, whether that is correct theology, spiritual practices, small groups, or church attendance, but at its most basic level, it's about being formed through deep relational connection with God and healthy, meaningful, vulnerable relationships.
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt and Hugh Halter discuss Brave Cities, a way of being the Church in a small, covenant community of friends who live in close proximity, who build works of justice, and whose businesses bless the city they are in. The conversation centers around what it means to build a kingdom ecosystem rather than Sunday-centric, formulaic versions of church. They emphasize the importance of understanding the context, cultivating relationships, and organically developing structures over time.
In this episode, Daniel Yang and Jeff Vanderstelt discuss the need for the Church to make shifts in light of changing demographics and the unique needs of younger generations. Daniel believes that the traditional approach to church planting, while effective in the past, may no longer be sufficient to reach the next generation. They talk about the importance of embracing new models and perspectives, with emphasis on attachment and connection. Daniel Yang's new book, Becoming a Future-Ready Church, can serve as a guide for leaders seeking to equip and empower the next generation with wisdom and hope.
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt talks with Sharon Hamill about the story of Pray Seattle, a movement that seeks to transform the heart of the city through prayer. Sharon describes how they've seen God leading and going before them, uniting the Church in the city through times of prayer, and moving in beautiful and unexpected ways.
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt and Nic Harding, Director of Kairos Connexion City Reaching, a network in the UK, discuss the importance of unified gospel city movements and explore how churches can work together to reach every person in their communities with the gospel. Nic also shares his personal experience establishing a church in Liverpool, where he saw the vital role of missional communities in fostering community and living on mission. Ultimately, Nic encourages us to believe in the possibility of completing the Great Commission through intentional collaboration and shared vision, highlighting the importance of humility, honesty, and a shared passion for the gospel.
What does it look like to create simple, Kingdom expressions of Jesus that form into disciple-making microchurches? How do we lead people to be on mission in their unique context? How can you create space at your table for people to meet Jesus in community? Steven Barr was led by Jesus to help Disney cast members around the globe develop Kingdom expressions where people get to meet Jesus in the context of their everyday life. In this episode, join Jeff Vanderstelt and Steven Barr down imagination lane. What might Jesus be calling you to discover right where you live, work, learn, or play?
Paul instructed Timothy to keep a close watch on his life and doctrine so that he would save both he and his hearers. Today we are seeing both a growing awareness and openness from leaders to care for their own soul. In this episode, Jason Kovacs, Executive Director and Counselor with the Gospel Care Collective, shares with Jeff Vanderstelt some very helpful and practical processes. He uses these to engage with leaders and churches to help them both care for their own soul and create cultures of care in the church, centered on Jesus.
Has the mission of Jesus ever felt more like striving and less like thriving? The culture we create is connected to the kinds of leaders we are. If we are not emotionally and relationally healthy, we will make disciples who are emotionally and relationally unhealthy as well. In this last episode of the 180 Series, Jeff Vanderstelt shares some of his own personal journey toward emotional and relational health with the hope that you will take your journey seriously as well.
Have you ever found yourself getting worn out and weary trying to live out the mission of Jesus? Continuing with our 180 Series, one of the shifts we need to make back to disciple-making is from striving to thriving. In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt considers how this involves moving from flesh to Spirit, from working with only our power and skills to living from the power of the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead.
Disciples become like those they are following. As we make disciples of Jesus, the ones we lead can take on our character and practices, which is a key reason why a leader's journey toward spiritual and emotional health matters. In this episode, David Achata shares with Jeff Vanderstelt his journey of heart transformation and its significant impact on the key relationships around him. Listen to this episode and consider your journey: are you taking steps for your own spiritual and emotional health?
In order to return to disciple-making, we must make a shift from merely attending events and programs, to attaching to God, self, and others through our disciple-making spaces. This requires mindfully engaging in spiritual practices with the goal of lovingly attaching. During this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt describes practical ways to engage several spiritual practices that invite attachment.
So many things have changed in our post-pandemic world, including the Church, how we make disciples, and lead others to do the same. How does the Church become stronger, healthier, and more engaged in everyday mission? Daniel Im addresses this question in his new book, The Discipleship Opportunity: Leading a Great Commission Church in a Post-Everything World. During this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt invites Daniel to unpack some of the key ideas of the book, giving listeners some ways to frame up our context and consider how to lead others on mission more effectively.
In order to return to disciple-making, we must make a shift from attending to attaching. Merely attending events and meetings will never develop disciple-making disciples. We need to lead people to attach to God and others in significant, transformative ways. Working from an understanding of social spaces, Jeff Vanderstelt looks at the ministry of Jesus and discerns five key spaces that He engaged very intentionally. This episode will help you discern where you are strong and where you might need to grow in your own disciple-making strategy.
Jesus was clear that we are to make disciples who make disciples. However, many of us don’t feel skilled or effective at it and often feel like we’re getting in the way. Kirk Freeman wrote the book Threads to show how anyone can weave everyday disciple-making into the fabric of their life and ministry. In this episode, Kirk shares how we can make space and create opportunities for people to meet and interact with Jesus in very personal and transformative ways. Disciple-making doesn’t have to be as hard as many of us have made it to be. Listen and learn how you can join Jesus drawing your friends and family to Himself.
If we are going to return to disciple-making, we need to make a shift from merely informing people to equipping ministers. So much of our training merely gives people ideas or concepts. However, research shows this is not the most effective way of training people. Informing is a necessary part of equipping but it is only one part. We need to create much more holistic forms of equipping that are D.E.E.P.E.R.
If we are going to return to disciple-making, we need to make a shift from merely informing people to equipping ministers. Part of that process is considering the diversity of our equipping. Are we equipping people in the way Paul instructed the church in Ephesus? He was clear that if we are to grow up into a full expression of who Jesus is, we need to be equipped by apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers. One person equipping the many will never lead to a full expression of Jesus. We need all the people gifts equipping all of the people of God.
In this second of ten episodes, we consider the first of the five shifts we must make to return to disciple-making. We need to shift from just reaching people to making disciples who make disciples. To accomplish that, we must build an effective disciple-making pathway that leads and develops people through a formation process. We'll explore the various stages, starting with moving from spiritually dead to becoming a spiritual infant in the faith. Next, we help spiritual infants grow up into spiritual children who will mature to spiritual young adults and eventually be sent out to be spiritual parents who can lead their own spiritual families. This kind of pathway requires spiritual grandparents who create equipping environments for multi-generational disciple-making disciples. Listen in and consider how you might build and strengthen a disciple-making pathway in your context.
In this, the first of ten episodes, we consider the first of the five shifts we must make to return to disciple-making. We need to shift from just reaching people to making disciples. However, we cannot make what we cannot state. What is your definition of a disciple? Does it sound like what Jesus called His first disciples to? In this episode, we consider the essence of what a disciple of Jesus is, with the goal of helping you clarify your own definition for your context.
Can you dream of a day when every man, woman, and child in your context has repeated opportunities to meet Jesus through His people on mission everywhere, everyday?
Jesus never commanded us just to reach people so that our church or group would get bigger. Jesus commanded us to make disciples who make disciples.
So many leaders want to see more disciples of Jesus equipped to make disciples in everyday life. However, far too much of our so-called equipping is only informing people. And sadly, we are not equipping with all the gifts
Many leaders and churches have given church planting a try but have not always experienced great success. In many cases, it is because they were trying to do it all alone. We all need greater collaboration...
People simply attending events or groups will not lead to disciple-making disciples. People need to engage in genuine loving attachment to God
Have you found yourself regularly giving yourself away to the degree that you wonder if you have any self left? Are you tired, weary, and worn out? God is present with you...
It’s far too common to care for everyone else in need around you and neglect yourself until it's too late. Yet Jesus calls us to take care of and find rest for our souls...
As the culture grows more secular and people are less open to the gospel, many struggle to effectively make disciples of Jesus. Victoria, British Columbia, with its affluence and religious skepticism....
What do ice cream and disciple-making have in common? Marc and Alissa Zera. Marc left Wall Street and moved to Charleston, SC to start a craft ice cream shop...
Have you ever wondered if everyday people could see God do extraordinary things by just being willing and ready for God to work in and through them? Maybe you’ve wanted this to be your story....
Have you ever wondered how you would go about starting a new church in a hard to reach place? Maybe you find yourself in your present location wondering how to more effectively plant the gospel.
Would you like to see your church intentionally engaged in a process to train and send leaders to start new churches? Are you personally interested in starting a new church? David Thew, along with other leaders from Summit Crossing Community Church in Huntsville, Alabama...
Have you ever wondered if your everyday life of going to work and living in your neighborhood matters? What if the work you do everyday is actually the space where Jesus had always intended to build His Church?
Have you ever wondered why so muWhat if every man, woman and child in your region had regular opportunities to meet Jesus? What if every follower of Jesus were envisioned and equipped to be the means by which Jesus accomplishes that vision?
Have you ever wondered why so much of our experience in discipleship and mission seems to lack the power of the Spirit? Have you read the accounts of Jesus’ ministry and the early Church and wondered why we don’t see the same supernatural works that seem very normative for the early followers of Jesus?
How do we address the struggles of leading in a post-pandemic context? Consider how challenging this has become in an urban context. Dhati Lewis, founder and director of MyBLVD ministries and founding pastor of Blueprint Church in Atlanta is serving leaders in the urban context as they navigate these present challenges. In this episode he shares how he and others help leaders pursue personal health and relational reconciliation. He provides some very helpful principles that will serve you as you consider leading in your context.
Have you noticed how your journey of prayer has changed as the seasons of your life have changed? Jeff Vanderstelt shares some of his personal journey of growing in prayer through five different seasons in his own life…seasons of learning, discovery, remembrance, suffering, and healing. Listen in for your own encouragement and growth in prayer.
Have you ever wondered how to move from prayer as ritual to prayer as relational? Jayne Vanderstelt has a very fluid, highly relational, life-giving prayer life. She shares her heart very openly with God and regularly hears from God. In this episode, Jayne describes her relational journey with God and how this shapes her prayer life. Her words will encourage and inspire you in your own prayer journey.
How do we navigate seasons of winter surrounded by darkness and longing? Lent invites us to step into the wilderness space in order to develop a hunger for the promise of resurrection life. Michael Sullivan shares with Jeff Vanderstelt how the practices of fasting and prayer, silence and solitude help us to be more fully human, practicing an embodied faith in the presence of God. This episode will encourage and inspire you to move beyond moments of prayer toward a life of prayer for every season.
Have you found that you hold to beliefs that you struggle to put into practice leading to what feels like empty religion? Aaron Niequist, author of The Eternal Current, encourages us to shift from only spoken beliefs to transforming practices. In this episode, Aaron shares with Jeff Vanderstelt some practical ways we can practice transforming prayer. If you are looking for some simple, practical ways to grow in your practice of prayer, this episode will help.
Have you ever wondered what might happen if a bunch of churches decided to collaborate their resources, collective gifts, and people toward planting many churches together? The churches in Buffalo, New York have been doing this for many years and have witnessed discernible change in the overall region as a result. Jerry Gillis joins Jeff Vanderstelt on this episode to share this inspiring story. This story will encourage and inform how you and others might work together to see a similar impact in your context.
Raising a family in our present context is no easy task. Leading them to become missionary disciples of Jesus might feel impossible. Hugh Halter talks with Jeff Vanderstelt and shares about his new book which tells the story of how their family has together made the mission of God their family story. If you would like to rethink and discover how to be a family on mission together in everyday life, this episode is for you.
Ever wonder what it might look like for churches to work together to strengthen and start churches? Bruce Wesley and Chad Clarkson were empowered and freed up by Clear Creek Community Church to give some of their time away to start the Houston Church Planting Network with several other leaders in the greater Houston area. Chad shares his personal story and the story of HCPN and what is required to see a collaborative church planting initiative thrive. You will be inspired, encouraged, and informed during this episode and gain some wisdom and direction for similar work in your context.
Tokyo has almost 40 million people and less than a quarter of a percent know Jesus. Sadly, 95% will likely never know a follower of Jesus their entire life. The need for the gospel to be planted is huge! Yoshito Noguchi moved his family from a comfortable existence and a very steady job as a youth pastor into the heart of Tokyo to start a new church. In this episode, Yoshi shares his journey with Jeff Vanderstelt, and all the struggles and joys that he encountered and the many ways God has been faithful. His is a journey of faithful trust and ongoing dependence on God. You will be encouraged and spurred on in your own faith journey and perhaps develop a passion for God’s work in Japan.
Leaving a steady career and moving a family to another country to start a church is no easy task. Atanasio Segovia did just that. In this episode, Atanasio shares his story and the story of Familia Soma with Jeff Vanderstelt. Atanasio shares the real struggles and how he has navigated through them, as well as the joy-filled breakthroughs. If you’re looking to be inspired and encouraged about how God is working in Mexico and through regular everyday people on mission, this episode is for you.
Craig Tuck and Clay Jernigan join Jeff Vanderstelt in this episode of the Saturate podcast. Craig and Clay are part of Mission Charleston, which exists to see churches and leaders collaborating together to love and serve Greater Charleston with the good news of Jesus.
Jesus loved Jerusalem and wept over her as He described the people there as a sheep without a shepherd. Jesus still loves cities and sends His people to care for the people in every city like He cared for us. Chris Gough has been working for many years in the greater Puget Sound region in Washington state and has many stories that will inspire you as you consider how you can pray for, serve, and share Jesus in your own context.
One of the ways Jesus taught us to create pathways for the gospel is through serving others like He served us. God loved us so much that He was willing to give His own Son for sinners. He became the Father to the spiritually fatherless. In this episode, Alison Martin, shares with Jeff Vanderstelt how she and others at Doxa Church have intentionally loved and served foster children, foster families, and foster care services to demonstrate the love of God in tangible ways. Alison shares many great principles that can be applied in any context and in many different forms of serving.
Like the previous two years, 2022 has been a mixed bag for many. Often we define our world by what’s broken or what’s been lost. We need to remember that the cup of sorrow can also be the cup of joy. In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt takes some time to reflect on what God has done through Saturate this past year and looks forward with anticipation to another year of God’s faithfulness.
In the early days of Advent, we drive out to the Beck family farm to cut down a Christmas tree. Our only rule is it must be shorter than “Mom” so it will fit in our house. This rule is always disappointing, especially as you walk around towering and beautiful trees. Instead of those giants, we pick a tree that only slightly dwarfs Charlie Brown’s. And yet, once we bring the tree into our house, we realize it’s too big. There isn’t room. We have to move furniture, change our seating arrangements, and move lamps out of the living room. It inconveniences everything. It disrupts our feng shui.
Our children clamor to decorate it as fast as possible, placing all the ornaments on the bottom half of our tree. The whole, lovely experience involves getting muddy, dirtying our car, moving furniture, pulling boxes out of the basement, and attempts at teaching a five-year-old the aesthetic of a balanced Christmas tree. This is one of my favorite moments. It’s the moment we prepare room in our house for the Christmas season. It’s the moment we make our house ready for the ongoing celebration that is full of expectation of God’s arrival. This physical discipline and family moment is an outward expression of what takes place within us. You are a Disciple and Worshipper of God Advent is a fresh invitation from God to prepare room in our hearts, minds, souls, and bodies to worship Him. This is the call to worship we hear as we sing in Joy to the World: “Let every heart, prepare him room.” This is not merely a missional call toward the world but it is a call to each other and ourselves in community. Many leaders and missional communities forget we are welcomed into a life of enjoying God, knowing His love, and experiencing His presence in our lives. We forget that we are God’s mission and on God’s mission. You and your community were created to live the gospel in unity with God. To taste the grace of God through repentance and faith. To worship God through confession. To know the depth of God’s love by listening to God. Christopher Friedrich Blumhardt notes the discipline we undertake of preparing room and searching for God’s work today…even in the ordinary. "One does not always have to wait for something out of the ordinary. The all-important thing is to keep your eyes on what comes from God and to make way for it to come into being here on the earth. If you always try to be heavenly and spiritually minded, you won’t understand the everyday work God has for you to do. But if you embrace what is to come from God, if you live for Christ’s coming in practical life, you will learn that divine things can be experienced here and now." This requires an intentional focus, just like the welcoming of a Christmas tree into your living room. How will you prepare room in your heart? How will you look for God’s presence? How will you tune your ear to hear His voice? At Saturate, we've created several resources to help disciples, families, and communities walk through this Advent with intentionality, hope, and joy in our Savior, Immanuel, God with us. You’re invited to join us.
FINDING JESUS IN THE WAITING This Advent, we invite your community to work through the “O Antiphons” during your weekly community gatherings. These are six liturgical poems, written by the early church for reading during Advent. Each one focuses on an Old Testament metaphor for the coming Messiah and will guide your community through a time of reflection on Scripture and prayer.
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PREPARING ROOM This 25-day devotional is a guide into the glorious reality of God Himself comin...
Many of us have come to believe that being needy and weak is a bad thing—even a sign of spiritual immaturity. As a result, we may have also come to believe that feelings are not good. In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt makes a biblical case for the purpose of emotions and weakness to lead us to find our needs met in relationship with God and others.
Chuck Gschwend, spiritual director for the Saturate board and director of culture and spiritual formation at the Eden Project, joins Jeff Vanderstelt to talk about the importance of making spiritual direction a priority for healthy leaders.
Each of us has an image in our head of who God is. That image, however, has been distorted and leads us to interact with a false view of God. The true image of God is seen and declared through Jesus. That truth is: God is love. When we know this both intellectually and relationally, it changes everything. In this podcast episode, Nathan Wagnon, CEO of the new start-up The Eden Project, shares with Jeff Vanderstelt how everything hinges on our image of God being reformed through the ultimate reality that God is love.
Todd Wermers, Director of Coaching at Tin Man Ministries, joins Jeff Vanderstelt in this episode and shares about his painful and transformative journey from sexual brokenness, leading him to lose his job, enter into recovery, restoring him to emotional health, and finally into helping others get their hearts back. Todd unpacks the common story of emotional brokenness that we all share and how Tin Man Ministries walks leaders back to emotional health through the transformational process.
Jeff Vanderstelt talks with Jeff Schulte, Founder and President of Tin Man Ministries, who shares about his journey from brokenness toward emotional and spiritual health, which led to the formation of Tin Man Ministries.
Jeff Vanderstelt interacts with Doug Paul, from Catapult, around the common struggles churches have in developing disciple-making strategies with an aim to provide practical solutions. In particular, Saturate and Catapult are partnering together to provide a Disciple-Making Digital Workshop on October 6, 2022 and two year-long Disciple-Making Labs beginning in January and May 2023. Listen to learn more and find out how you can get the help your church needs.
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt talks with Brian Johnson and Rob Wegner, leaders with the Kansas City Underground, about how they equip everyday people for disciple-making in everyday life leading to MicroChurch expressions so that all of Kansas City will one day be filled with the presence of Jesus.
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt talks with Myron Pierce, founder of Mission Church, Every Inner City, and Side Hustle Pastor, to learn more about transferable forms of disciple-making in everyday life in the inner-city context.
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt talks with Dave Clayton, founder of Awaken Nashville to learn more about how the churches in Nashville collaborated on an initiative to pray for every person in their city for 30 days. Gospel saturation in a city or region requires ongoing, collaborative prayer to align ourselves with the heart and purposes of God in our city.
Gospel saturation in a city or region requires ongoing, collaborative prayer to align ourselves with the heart and purposes of God in our city. In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt talks with Alexis Phillips, Jeff Vancil, and Chris Gough about how they've seen God's Spirit aligning churches and leaders in the Puget Sound. Recently, a unique and decentralized movement of prayer is being realized in the Pacific Northwest region of the US.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Ben Connelly talks with Alan Hirsch, Shaun Alexander, Bob Roberts, and Elliot Grudem about his recent book, A Field Guide for Genuine Community. This is the final episode of our mini-series and we hope that in this episode you learn about community as teamwork, the difference between community vs communitas, and community with those different than us.
You can check out genuinecommunity.com for more info and download the 1st chapter. Activate your free Saturate membership trial at saturatetheworld.com/membership where you'll get access to hundreds of resources on living in community, everyday discipleship, and life on mission.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Ben Connelly talks with Trillia Newbell, Daniel Im, Jeff Christopherson, Atanasio Segovia about his recent book, Genuine Community. The church isn’t meant to be a collection of strangers. God intends for you to find a unified and purposeful household where you truly belong. Trillia, Daniel, Jeff, Atanasio each share the beauty and challenges of life in community.
You can check out genuinecommunity.com for more info and download the 1st chapter. Activate your free Saturate membership trial at saturatetheworld.com/membership where you'll get access to hundreds of resources on living in community, everyday discipleship, and life on mission.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Ben Connelly talks with Bob Goff, Doug Logan, and Melissa Ice about his recent book, Genuine Community. We all know that a church is supposed to be a community. The trick is to actually make it one. Bob, Doug, and Melissa each share what community looks like in their lives and why it's essential as we follow Jesus.
You can check out genuinecommunity.com for more info and download the 1st chapter. Activate your free Saturate membership trial at saturatetheworld.com/membership where you'll get access to hundreds of resources on living in community, everyday discipleship, and life on mission.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Duke Revard talks with Dawson Jones about leading the church post-crisis. When things go wrong, people quickly become disoriented. Leaders are responsible to gain clarity and to reorient people into a new reality. Dawson Jones has been tasked with just that after the tragic death of the Lead Pastor of Soma Tacoma. We talk through God’s faithfulness in crisis, the surprising way people rise up to help, and how suffering refines us to be more committed to God and one another.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Duke Revard talks with Jared Pickney on the critical role of metrics as we pursue the Great Commission together. People work on what you measure, people duplicate what you celebrate. Jared shares how they experienced their church increase 150% in annual baptisms by only changing one thing. If you're wondering what we should be measuring as churches on mission, this episode is for you.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Duke Revard talks with Chuck Gschwend about leading yourself to ongoing spiritual renewal. Chuck has been on a multi-year, deep dive on all things Richard Lovelace's book Dynamics of the Spiritual Life. We talk about...
A vision for your ongoing renewal. Preconditions/barriers to renewal. Currency, or the kind of environments you'll need. Fuel - the drive for ongoing renewal. Practices - spiritual disciplines which make space to receive from God.
If you are looking to better lead yourself or others in your ministry to ongoing spiritual renewal, this episode is for you.
Learn more about Chuck's Renewal Cohorts here.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Duke Revard talks with Nathan Wagnon about discovering our distorted images of God and the gift of reforming people’s view of God. Discipleship is about communing with the living God and participating in His Kingdom, but the over-correction to intellectual resistance has led many to abandon the experiential reality of communing with God, for right thoughts about God. We hope this episode helps you consider how God is inviting you to see and experience Him more truly and fully.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Duke Revard talks with Amy Lathrop and Alison Martin about the important topic of women’s ministry as women’s discipleship. If we are to see Gospel Saturation, it will require us to mobilize the entire church, which certainly includes women. If you've experienced women’s ministry as theology-lite or overly simply content or if you just have a suspicion that there is more for women on Jesus’ mission, this episode is for you.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Duke Revard and Jeff Vanderstelt discuss developing elders in a church of missional communities. As go the leaders, so goes the church. This is no less true in a church of missional communities. Jeff and Duke answer the question, how do we ensure elders are qualified, equipped, and effective to lead the church? We hope this conversation gives you at least one next step to establish or strengthen your elder development process.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Duke Revard and Jeff Vanderstelt will be joined by Chris Gonzalez and Paul Dean. In 2020, we celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the Soma Family of Churches and we want to pause and look back and discuss what we have learned. Our conversation today asks the question, "what did you believe 10 years ago that you believe even more now?" Some things we were convinced of 10 year ago, some we were surprised by, some weren’t even in our awareness.
Family identity Discipleship requires significant relationships Story-formed Ministry is harder but for reasons you don’t understand We assumed Spiritual Formation Pew-sitters are found in any ecclesiology Leadership development matters Run the play but be flexible Team is better Our greatest failures are failures of faith, hope, and love
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Duke Revard will be joined by author and Spiritual Director, Adele Calhoun. Our hope is that as you listen, you gain a clearer understanding of how essential it is for disciples of Jesus to learn how to “be with Jesus” as the foundation for discipleship and ministry. Check out Adele's Spiritual Disciplines Handbook.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Duke Revard and Jeff Vanderstelt talk with Jeremy Stephens and Tomy Wilkerson from The Underground. We’ll talk about micro churches, the similarities and differences between them and missional communities. We learn from what The Underground has learned over the 10 years of decentralized discipleship.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Jeff Vanderstelt and Duke Revard talk about family discipleship in the everyday stuff of life. In COVID we’ve seen some of our discipleship structure break down which has revealed both the ways parents are and aren’t equipped to disciple their kids. So while family discipleship is alway important, it is perhaps one of the most important areas for us to give attention to as we equip others in this season.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Duke Revard and Jeff Vanderstelt talk with Will Plitt, Executive Director of Christ Together about unifying churches in a city for Gospel Saturation. Will and Jeff make the biblical case for unity on mission. They share some of the proven principles which lend themselves to unity and other practices that derail churches working together. This episode is both information and an invitation to engage in gospel saturation with Christ Together and Saturate.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Duke Revard and Jeff Vanderstelt step in as new hosts to launch a new season. Duke and Jeff discuss how the COVID reality has shone a bright light on how we view the church and how we’re doing at making disciples. They discuss different responses they are seeing and what leaders and churches can do to seize the opportunity God is giving us in these strange days.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson looks back at the first 103 episodes and makes a few observations on the choices we all face in this "missional moment". Brad also announces an exciting change to the podcast and his role in it. Be on the lookout for next season hosted by Duke Revard and Jeff Vanderstelt.
Special thanks to: Jared Pickney, Sara Parker, Sunee Hillyer, Ben Fort, Amy Lathrop, Josh Cherian, and many regular guests and listeners.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Chris Gonzalez about city-based theological education that reimagines seminary to be something that is for everyone and for the long-term transformation of not only our churches but our cities. They talk about endurance and learning environments that build the kingdom.
In this episode, Jeff Vanderstelt, Bob Roberts, and Ben Connelly talk about lessons they've learned from the global church on decentralized movements. This conversation is inspiring, encouraging, and challenging as we faithfully seek to be who God made us in the times he's placed us.
In this episode, Brad Watson talks with Chuck Gschwend about prayer and revival, particularly in how to pray for revival in our missional communities and churches and how we overcome cynicism through prayer.
In this episode, Brad Watson and Ben Connelly talk about the importance of equipping disciples during this season. They discuss why a quarantine doesn't keep us from doing this, but creates new challenges and opportunities. In fact, it may be more important than ever.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Dawson Jones of Tacoma, Washington about how the gospel of Jesus applies to us in this very moment. They share insights on what they're experiencing, learning from Jesus, seeing in their churches, and what they believe matters today. They ask three questions that are crucial for being present in circumstances: What is Jeus saying to us right now? Where do we see the Spirit at work right now? What is important right now?
Who should be in your community? This episode of the Saturate Podcast walks through how you can build a committed group of disciples for your missional community. They talk through the basic steps of casting vision, setting expectations, and inviting disciples to commit to the process of becoming a missional community.
What is the purpose of missional communities? This episode of the Saturate Podcast Brad and Jared explain how mission is a fundamental key to missional community and what a common mission is. They also share ideas on how to establish mission and take steps into it before you "officially" launch your missional community.
In this episode, Brad Watson and Jared Pickney discuss the fundamental need for leaders in missional communities. This conversation goes into the nature, cost, and expectations of a leader. Lastly, they talk about the need to find support and coaching as a leader--try not to start without that kind of support.
In this episode, Brad Watson and Jared Pickney talk through the key step of understanding what a missional community is, and crafting your own vision. Before you can start a missional community, you need to know what they are and what they aren't.
In this episode, Brad Watson and Duke Revard talk with Jeff Schulte, of Tin Man Ministries, about leadership health and the codependency that exists in humans. Recorded in front of a live audience at the Soma Family Retreat, this conversation dives into parts of Brad's story, boundaries, and the way of pursuing health.
In this episode, Brad Watson talks with Ben Connelly about the new Jonah study for communities and churches. They dive into the topics about grace, city revivals, and loving those you don't want to love. But more than that, they discuss how we are all God's mission, even when we're on God's mission.
Start reading the first chapter for free today!
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Winfield Bevins about what we can learn from Weslyan revival movement in the 18th century. They talk about the discipleship systems, vision, and transformative power from this movement. Learn more about this topic by getting Winfield's book, Marks of a Movement and get resources mentioned at marksofamovement.com
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Atanasio Segovia about what God is doing in Latin America with Familia Soma, and they dive into how missional communities and churches can be on mission to latinos across the world.
Want to continue learning? Register for our upcoming webinar with Atanasio.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Ben Connelly and Brad Watson talk about the book of Ephesians and the study that Brad wrote on that book for communities that launched on August 19th. They discuss how the wonder of Scripture creates and transforms lives.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Nathan Oliver and Pete Greenwood from Melbourne Australia about what God is doing in their city and how the gospel is moving through their churches both in the suburbs and inner city.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Bethany and Chris Priebe of Peoria, Arizona about living intentionally within apartment complexes. Then, Brad talks with the CEO of Apartment Life, Pete Kelly, about how they are connecting business and everyday mission. Learn more about being a team member at www.apartmentlife.org/saturate
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Al Henson of Compassionate Hope about making disciples and caring for the poor. Al has been making disciples, caring for the poor, and planting churches for 40 years. In this conversation Al and Brad talk about suffering, persecution, living the gospel, and the how each disciple is called to participate in God's mission locally and globally.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with three aerospace engineers on what it is like to live the gospel in their workplace and industry while also making disciples within a missional community.
In this Episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with lawyer and public defender, Ryan Wolfe about how the gospel shapes his calling and vocation to be an advocate for those who have can't afford one. They discuss how the mission of God shapes their entire life and how he and his family lives a life on mission and in community while in the legal justice system.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Katie and Andrew about being a family with a special needs child and being a family on mission. They share their story on how everything God gives us is a gift that shapes our understanding of the gospel.
In this episode of the Saturate podcast, Brad Watson talks with Trip, Sarah, and Mirela about being parents as disciples while living as a community on mission with their kids. They talk about what it means to be a parent of teenagers, newborns, and school-aged children. They cover topics about capacity, equipping, and the help of community.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Hope, Austin, and Jared about living out the gospel in everyday life within the entertainment industry. They share insights on the power of the gospel, community, and mission as they succeed in careers that often don't value those things at all.
In the first installment of a new series on the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with three disciples at Soma in Los Angeles about living life with gospel intentionality as they work in customer service jobs. They discuss the challenges, opportunities, and role their missional communities play in seeing Jesus saturate their work.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Dan Bovenmyer of Grace Community Church in Iowa City, Iowa about how their multi-site church disciples people toward everyday mission and delight in following Jesus in everything. They also talk about a helpful and key step in people's journey, Pilot Groups.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Abe Myesenburg and David Achata about leading from the gospel and how much of our current leadership structures and cultures are broken.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with the podcast's producer, Ben Fort, about loving artists in our communities and on mission well. They get practical and share stories about this important way we can love our neighbors.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson learns from Kevin Platt about how he helps cast vision, train, and remind people in his church about the BLESS rhythms. This conversation is the crucial conclusion to our Gospel Intentionality series.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Kevin Platt of Missio Dei in Arizona on the BLESS rhythm: Speak. How do we intentionally declare good news in all of life? One of the fundamental realities is we don't just live good news lives, we speak good news.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad and Mirela Watson talk about intentionally resting to enjoy God and the missional power of taking a day off with a focus on being with God and enjoying his world.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad and Mirela Watson talk about living everyday with intentional focus around meals. They share practical experience and their story of growing in this area as the front line of living on mission: the table.
Download the resource they mentioned to help your meal planning: Meal Planner.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad and Mirela Watson talk about living with intentionality around the rhythm of listening. Why does listening to others make such a big difference? What does that look like? How can you grow as a listener? They also talk about this resource, 10 Questions to Help You Listen to Others.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad and Mirela Watson talk about living life with gospel intentionality and why it is hard to think of others as a way of life and how to practically make blessing others an everyday rhythm.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson introduces our newest series on daily gospel rhythms. He talks about the importance of the truth of the gospel and our identity and then outlines how the gospel connects to everyday life as a foundation for this series.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with poet and artist Preston Perry about his poem, New Woke Christian, and how the gospel is the solution to every challenge facing our society, including social injustice.
In this live episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Adam Breckenridge about the challenges and opportunities we face as we make disciples in a self-focused culture. How do you challenge and encourage people toward Jesus when all we can think about is ourselves?
In this live episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and Jared Pickney talk with pastor, professor, and author Zack Eswine about how everyday leaders wrestle with leadership, ego, drive, and temptation to prove themselves.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with leaders of a gospel movement in St. Louis, Missouri about how God builds his church, calls them toward everyday discipleship, and how churches work together to make small shifts toward the mission God has called them towards.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Adam Hillyer, the student director at Doxa Church in Seattle, Washington. They discuss student equipping, developing student leaders, and how you approach discipleship with students.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson, Jared Pickney, and Adam Breckenridge talk with pastoral counselor and spiritual director, Richard Plass about the underlying and bedrock of missional community experience: relationships. While we could talk about techniques to create space for relationship and we can cast vision for the identity of the Church as family, one thing can’t be ignored: we are deeply relationally wounded and inept.
A few years ago, I ran a 5K on Thanksgiving with my whole family - three kids and two strollers. As we crossed the finish line the announcer said, “Welcome the stroller team!” The race was through the heart of the city of Portland and over two of the prominent bridges that connect that city. As I pushed my daughter and trudged along through the rain and wind, my legs grew tired. They ached, and I kept pushing forward, but I slowed down. Then, I realized my “jog” was the same speed as my walking. My daughter shouted, “Go like a rocket ship!” But I was spent. I stopped and let her run alongside my wife and I walked a few hundred yards across the bridge before picking up my jog again and finishing out strong alongside my wife.
I wasn’t strong enough to make it the whole way. I didn’t have the endurance to push my daughter the entire way. I was weak. In those two hundred yards on the bridge, I looked out over the city, our city, and in that moment I prayed, “God, I’m not strong enough to save this city, to help it, to endure, or to push people to you.” This prayer is evidence of God’s grace. So much of my time in Portland was spent running hard, pushing, striving, and attempting to be enough. The sin of this is not simply the delusion, but the rebellious stealing glory from God and proclaiming the “gospel of Brad.” Repentance began on that bridge with me praying, “I’m not enough; you are.”
This is the expectant Christmas prayer of all who serve Jesus as King. It brings us to the point of recognition that we are not enough. We know our world is in need of peace, hope, and love, and yet it is revealed to us that we are not enough to bring it to ourselves, let alone our city.
Jesus, even as a baby, was more than enough for the world. This is the power of the incarnation. The story of God becoming a baby is also the story of God becoming King. John’s incarnation narrative differs from Luke and Matthew. In it he simply writes, The Word was made flesh.
We are Servants to the Son who was Born King Jesus was born into this world with nothing to prove. He was born the King of kings and the Prince of peace. The invitation to the shepherds that night was to come and behold the promised one and salvation of God reaching into our world. This is the same invitation to all who become citizens of that Kingdom: behold the King!
God’s first coming transforms us from refugee to citizen of the Kingdom of God. We were once bound to the kingdom of darkness, alienated and estranged from God. Now have been transferred into the Kingdom of glorious light. No longer do we scavenge for a place in this world. No longer are we resigned to being our own king. No longer do we establish earthly kingdoms. Instead, Christmas reminds us we have found our home in Jesus our King, and our lives are shaped by life in His Kingdom of compassion, grace, forgiveness, love, and hope.
As we wrap up this series, I want to remind you of the vision we set ourselves on: that we would prepare room in our hearts for God with us as we live our identity in Christ in the ways He has called each of us to.
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, And heaven and nature sing.”
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Our Advent traditions have become numerous: we cut down our tree at the Beck family farm in the shadow of Mt. Hood; we make cinnamon rolls for our neighbors; we go ice skating at the mall; I take the girls to see the Nutcracker; and we go on a hike through the snow and forest on Christmas morning. Between all of these moments, we experience the normal hustle and bustle of America drinking hot chocolate, shopping, wrapping, and many times traveling. The most revered and treasured tradition, however, is our Christmas Eve feast.
This family tradition pre-dates our marriage when my wife and her mother would welcome in anyone without a family to be with and without a place to go. This meal was important to my late mother-in-law because it depicted generosity, family, and the entire message of the gospel. Our Christmas Eve meal is the most spiritual and religious moment of our entire holiday season. Mirela prepares great food from appetizers to dessert. We buy the best beer, the best wine, the best whiskey. We decorate our home and we welcome in friend, stranger, and acquaintances. I remember our first year in Portland saw us welcome a couple we met on the street searching for live music, our landlord, and friends from long ago. Each year we see a different collection, and yet each year is the same; we have a feast on the evening we celebrate God’s arrival. There’s hardly anything more appropriate in our worship. More than hymns, more than sermons, and even more than candles, we see God’s arrival to us at a table with other people. Our Longing for the Feast Food is significantly religious. It is through food that Adam and Eve rebel. The first biblical meal is the perversion, pollution, and de-creation of all God had made. Adam’s feast ushers the world into chaos. Through food, humanity enters a groaning and waiting for wholeness, restoration, and peace. Sin—everything that is unkind, unmerciful, destructive, wicked, lonely, murderous, and mortal—has its birth in that first meal. Through Advent, we weep over the consequences of Adam and Eve’s meal in which they doubted God’s goodness and believed God to be withholding. Advent is necessary because of the separation caused by sin.
Advent is the season we observe the agony of war and hope for peace. We aspire to hope while we acknowledge our own despair. We long for love while confronting our inability to receive love from another or muster the courage to love another. The world watches for God’s light, peace, joy, salvation, and love to break into our world. We wait for the abundance, blessing, and eternal life of God that overpowers our sin and cleanses us. It was through a meal creation fell apart, and it’s through a meal that God is restoring all things, including us. The Arrival of the Gospel Feast You’ve likely never heard an Advent or Christmas sermon on Isaiah 25, but it is a deep song of arriving hope and peace to the world.
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. (Isaiah 25:6-9 ESV)
Isaiah points us to a moment when the waiting will be over. When God will gather all people for a rich feast, an incredible celebration. It’s in that gathering in that shared feast that we will see the swallowing up of death, the removal of mourning, the extinguishing of condemnation, and the tearing of the separation between God and hu...
On these last days of Advent, we turn our gaze to the love embodied in the crib. The incarnation carries into our world not just hope, peace, and joy, but Christ brings with Him a love of unending depth. As Sally Lloyd Jones writes in The Jesus Storybook Bible, “A never-ending, never-giving up, always and forever love.” Paul Miller describes what happened in the incarnation this way, “Love walked among us.” How does a baby love beyond smiles, sweet smells, and long sleep? The angel declares the reality of God’s love that first Christmas Eve, “Unto you is born this day, a savior.”
Jesus is born Rescuer. Born to rescue us from a world made wretched through sin, death, and evil. Born for the world and to save the world. Jesus Born Savior Returning to Isaiah, as we have often this past month, we find the passion of Jesus predicted in powerful poetry in Isaiah 52-53. Regularly read on Good Friday, this poem in Isaiah reveals the intent of Immanuel. Let the words sink in as you consider Christ born into this world to redeem it.
See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness— so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand. Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 52:13-53:12 NIV)
The Suffering Servant, the King of Glory, comes to be with us in sin, and to take on the sins of men. The love of God compels God to suffer and die so that Immanuel, God-with-us, can be a forever reality. There are three clear signs God loves you without end: the swaddling cloths of a newborn baby, the bloody cross, and the empty tomb.
One of my favorite Christmas memories came five years ago when Mirela told me she was pregnant with our second child. I was overjoyed, amazed, and humbled. When that daughter was born we named her “Maitê,” which means “beloved.” We named her that because it was something we need to be reminded of, that we are His beloved. And it was an affirmation of her identity, too. But mostly, her name reminds us that she was born amidst God’s clear and transformative love poured into our marriage and our lives. Story from Our Marriage Six years ago amongst a missional community meal, my wife and I shared more honest than we ever had. We were somewhat nervous, but mostly relieved. We had just come out of the shadows. Our marriage was in trouble. We were in trouble.
This was the night we told our community how bad it was and that we needed intense marriage counseling. The days leading up to our public confession of mess were filled with interventions from fellow leaders and a painful conversation in which I asked Mirela, “Have there been good times in our marriage?” She responded, “Some, but they don’t last long.” She had been fighting for my attention for quite some time. Our marriage had endured lots of pain we simply raced past: the loss of a parent, deep financial hardships, the US immigration system, and doing ministry in the core of a city that wanted nothing to do with the church.
The bulk of our married life had been spent leading communities, doing ministry, planting a church, and pretending to have a good marriage. This was our fourth missional community to lead. We had already sent three communities out. I had already led trainings on how to ‘do’ missional community. This was the moment I finally felt like I belonged to a missional community. It was the first moment we truly asked something from any community. We needed childcare, we needed funds for counseling, and we desperately needed prayers.
We spent the next year simply participating. We weren’t the leaders anymore. Mirela and I have never been the same. That community was never the same either. This honest moment ushered in a sort of caring and loving I had stopped expecting from those I was in “community” with. Looking back I realize that I had finally become a burden and I had become a brother. We sought the gospel together. Mirela and I shared what we were learning in counseling. People saw our marriage transform right before their eyes. Our community paid for months and months of counseling. They watched our daughter. They regularly asked what was going on. Beyond this, each couple examined their own marriage. Mirela and my learning and growing was theirs, too.
Furthermore, it was in this season that I saw the power of simply pursuing love for God, love for one another, and love for neighbor. Emboldened by counseling and my community, I began to share what God was doing in my life with friends and neighbors. In telling them about my mess, crazy things began to happen. Neighbors wanted to talk about Jesus more. They wanted to come to our church’s worship gatherings. They wanted to hear how we saw God’s presence in our mess.
Side note: when people ask me if missional communities work, I look back to this story and say, “Yes, they do.” This one was vital in nudging me to love God, love His Church, and love my neighbors.
Beyond all of that, though, that time in our marriage taught us both two remarkable things: we are a mess and we are deeply loved. So we named our daughter, Maitê, or beloved. Knowing the love of Jesus changed our marriage. You are Loved There’s obviously a lot to talk about in regards to Christmas. There are a lot of logistics to figure out. But, when we gaze at the child in the manger, and the Savior born to us, I hope you will find the love of God. I hope He lands in your life and that the Spirit reminds you that your name is beloved. I also pray that as you walk into the frantic last days of Advent,
We find ourselves between two arrivals - the first in Jesus in Bethlehem and the second as He comes again. We stand between resurrection and restoration. That’s precisely why this season is so important; it locates our hope, peace, joy, and love. It locates it in the historic gospel of Jesus and the coming that we wait for. Our joy is full as we look to the manger and our joy can be even more full as we look to His certain Kingdom and the feast we will share when the Bride and the Bridegroom are united. Revelation 19:7-8 (ESV) speaks of this reality.
“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure.” End of World War II in England It all reminds me of stories from the end of World War II and how it was celebrated in England. The war in Europe didn’t end suddenly. It was long and drawn out. The allies, especially after liberating concentration camps across Europe, would not stand for anything less than complete and unconditional surrender. At the same time, in all practical senses, the war in Europe was over once the allies broke through the lines in western and eastern Germany. Victory was secured and victory was inevitable through the sacrifice, courage, and fortune of the British, Canadian, American, and Russian soldiers. And yet, the Nazi’s held on. Even after repeated bombings of Berlin and the capturing of 1.5 million soldiers on the western front, the Nazi’s refused to surrender. Even after Mussollini and Hitler’s deaths, the war did not end. The war wasn’t over, but the victory had been won. Such a strange time.
In England, which had been bombed for years and lost thousands of young men to the war, they made preparations for the day of victory. Groups of citizens gathered the materials for flags and parades. Bar-keepers ordered and saved beer, whiskey, and champaign. But not a single bottle was to be opened until the news rang out of complete victory. They, in perfect English fashion, delayed the exuberant celebration until the perfect moment. Yet, as historians explored this moment, they found the quiet joy amongst the people. The resolve of the assured end of war brought smiles, peace, and levity to the entire world. The war was won but not over. The celebration had begun in hearts, minds, conversations, and even a few bars here and there, but none of those parties compared to that day on May 9, 1945 when the war was completely over.
This is where we are between the cradle and the new city. Jesus was born Savior and King. The victory has been won while the war still rages…but rest assured the war is won. There are two great verses from the old Christmas hymn “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” that call us into that kind of joy. These verses remind us of the comfort and the victory. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen God rest ye merry, gentlemen Let nothing you dismay Remember, Christ, our Savior Was born on Christmas Day To save us all from Satan's power When we were gone astray O tidings of comfort and joy Comfort and joy O tidings of comfort and joy!
"Fear not, then," said the Angel "Let nothing you affright This day is born a Savior Of a pure Virgin bright To free all those who trust in Him From Satan's power and might." O tidings of comfort and joy Comfort and joy O tidings of comfort and joy!
Let’s live all of life with that comfort and knowledge of the victory that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and evil!
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I haven’t found a suburban light show, a boat parade light show, or the lights in a fancy mall in Los Angeles to compare the Christmas lights of Lisbon, Portugal. My home city truly rises to the occasion as they stream intricate lights across the narrow streets. Blankets of sparkles fill the air above the ancient streets. It’s an image to behold and the place to be. You can’t simply drive past these lights; you have to get out and walk around. You soak up these lights and smell freshly roasted chestnuts. All this to say: one, my childhood was better than yours, and two, light is beautiful. The True Light While the other Gospel writers made note of the star in the sky, and the glory of the angels shining on shepherds, when John wrote his preamble to his Gospel, he chose light as a key image for the coming of Jesus.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5 NIV)
Then, a few lines later:
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:9-14 NIV)
The Light of God appeared to us in darkness. The Light came into the world. He came to make children born of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt with us. In Jesus, we have seen the glory of God, full of grace and truth. What a truth to base your entire life on? Proclaiming Life as Complete Joy As John wrote 1 John, he began with this:
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.” (1 John 1:1-4 NIV)
He says, We’ve seen it! We’ve touched it! Life! God was with us and God is with us. Now, John and his friends are writing and proclaiming this reality of God made flesh to others as a source of joy for themselves! John also quotes Jesus saying to His disciples, “You are the light of the world!” (Matthew 5:14 NIV).
John was a remarkable disciple who picked up on incredible images. But for John, light was central to the identity of Jesus and the entity of life. Not only that light is core to who we are as His disciples (in that image and identity), but there’s no greater joy than to declare the gospel of Jesus. There’s no greater joy than welcoming others into the fellowship and communion of saints.
This shatters much of our expectation of joy in this life. We might gaze at a fancy feast as a picture of joy. We might imagine a new home as joy. Even in super spiritual terms, you might imagine a big church service as joy. But for John, as a light in the world, there’s no more complete joy than proclaiming the reality of God made flesh! The mission of God comes with a joy indescribable. Do you want joy? Pursue the Kingdom! Do you want joy? Be a light in the darkest of places in your city.
Christmas is one of those strange times you sing a lot. It’s also a time when you oddly sing words in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and all sorts of languages. A favorite, I think, is the song “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” I’ve noticed most people really love the refrain, “Rejoice, rejoice.”
But what is that word really about? What does it have to do with joy?
In Matthew’s Gospel, Joseph receives a dream about the birth of Jesus. An angel comes to him and tells him the whole thing, and then also tells him that he should call Him “Emmanuel,” meaning “God with us.” In this, the angel quotes Isaiah 7. We’ve read a lot of Isaiah in this reflection series, but this one is the strangest. The Old Testament can be weird!
Isaiah 7 centers around the king of Judah, Ahaz, and a massive, geopolitical drama; the most powerful army known in human history baring down on the three small kingdoms of Palestine: Syria, Israel, and Judah.
Syria and Israel became allies and wanted to force Judah (that’s Ahaz’s kingdom) to join. If he wouldn’t join their alliance, they would invade and crush them and take the kingdom as their own. The king, though, is stuck considering his next move. Maybe he should join the big dog in the region and gain the spoils after the dust has settled against the other two. Or maybe he has to join an alliance, but then, what good is it to be king if other kingdoms are dictating your life? And, how faithful can his people be to their calling?
Ahaz is left wondering, “Who can I align myself with? Who will be with me while the powers around me build, while the walls come crushing in, and while the chaos erupts?”
Then Isaiah comes to the king saying, “Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart grow faint.” He goes on to say, “These kingdoms will fail. You will be okay.” But Isaiah ends his pep talk with these words. “If you are not firm in the faith, you will not be firm at all.”
Isaiah says what God, through His prophets, has always said: Trust in God. Have faith. Remain in an alliance with the God who established your life, your kingdom, your reign. He is the trustworthy One of immense power. Don’t play politics of fear.
God says: Trust me! I’ve established your people. I made your kingdom. You have nothing apart from me. Trust that I am in this with you.
Then, God says, “Ask me for a sign as high as the heavens or as deep as hell. I will give you a sign so you can trust me!”
Ahaz responds, I will not. There’s a law that says not to. He refuses the sign, the call to trust. (Side note: I wonder how often we use religion to avoid God and do what we want and continue in our despair?) Ahaz didn’t want a sign from God. Often, we’re more comfortable with a world in which God isn’t involved.
God replies, I will give you a sign anyway! It will be a baby boy who will refuse evil and do what is good. He will know the good. Those other kingdoms will vanish. Oh, and the boy’s name will be, “God is with us,” because God will be with you. God is moving toward you.
My sign, God says, will be from heaven, and it will go as low as to break the gates of hell. God not only reached His arm into the world to bring justice and loving-kindness, He became the embodiment of justice, hope, peace, and loving-kindness. This is Emmanuel.
Tim Keller writes: “the incarnation is how God becomes soft.” God’s sign is to make Himself touchable. Vulnerable. Killable. Emmanuel from the womb to the cradle to the tomb, God in this mess with us. Experiencing it, knowing it.
Emmanuel is essentially what I think we want from our deepest friendships and relationships, and especially from God, isn’t it? We want God to know, understand, and be present in “this” with us. That is what God is saying. I’ve got you. I’m with you.
For us, the sign is not in the words of a prophet but in the child born the Savior. It also joins two things we often separate, trust and joy,
We tell the stories that matter most to us and our world. The stories you tell at parties, over dinner, and even in small talk have two overlapping qualities: you like them and you think the people around you will like them as well. The stories we tell reveal what matters most to us. Families have stories that are so important they get told over and over again. The way into the family is to know them. One of my family’s revered stories happened last year.
Last November, our first Christmas in Los Angeles, we found, after much research, a farm only an hour away that allowed you to cut down your own Christmas tree. So, we loaded the kids, a good friend, and my wife’s aunt into our van and drove out of Los Angeles to fulfill our family’s destiny. The farm was nice and we found a good tree, cut it down, and carried it down the hill. They measured how tall it was, we paid, and a nice teenage boy who worked there carried it to our car and tied in on our roof. And then we were on our way back home over the dry, rolling hills of the 101. It was a beautiful day and drive with a healthy soundtrack of James Taylor and Mariah Carey. Then, as we were driving 70 miles per hour through traffic we heard something on the roof. Then out the back of our van, we saw it - our tree tumbling behind us. Mirela (my wife) shouted, “Our tree!” and our children turned in their seats and saw what we all saw - our $90 hand-picked tree rolling down an LA freeway. Our oldest daughter wept, “This is the worst Christmas ever!” Our second cried, “Let’s just go to Target and get a fake tree!” Our son finally realized what had happened and just cried. I was in shock. Amidst the wailing, Mirela and I tried to figure out what to do. I wasn’t about to go back and get another $90 tree and I wasn’t going to Target either. Mirela decided the best thing would be to go back and try to get what was lost, to redeem the very tree that bailed on our family Christmas.
Reluctantly, I turned around. We drove three miles back before circling back looking for our tree. Our children were filled with some glimmer of hope. I was certain we would add salt to their wounds when they saw the trampled and destroyed tree. But, there it was, sitting neatly on the edge of the left-hand lane and fortunately in a small stretch where there was a shoulder and space to pull our van off to the side of the highway. Then, in my finest and dumbest moment as a dad, I ran down the highway, grabbed our tree, ran back, and shoved it inside our van. I had saved Christmas. The children cheered, the signing continued, and we haven’t stopped telling the story because it makes us happy and those we tell it to laugh. It invokes a response, a memory, and for those of you reading, it brings you into my world and my family.
The good news announced by the angel in Luke 2:10 is a story that causes great joy for all people. It’s a story that gets told often. Angels and Shepherds Tell the Story The storytellers are angels—creatures from the Kingdom of heaven—and shepherds—creatures from the wilderness. The angels only share the story once. They go to the shepherds, scare them, declare the good news of the birth of a child, and where to find Him. The shepherds respond by racing to find and see this Savior and baby for themselves. In fact, they tell each other, “Let’s go and see this thing that has happened!” (Luke 2:15 NIV). This is important. The good news and the story is historical. It’s an event that has occurred and now they are going to see it themselves. That’s the power of the angels’ story. They tell people who respond by going and seeing. They enable space and they give direction; this is where you will find salvation, glory, and peace. Go there!
How often do we tell that story with that kind of invitation? "Here’s the good news of Jesus. Come be part of my community to see Him for yourself! Here’s where you go to find that love and forgiveness.
I’ll never forget where I was when I first heard the news: LeBron James was coming to Los Angeles to play for our Lakers. King James was going to come! After years of trying to read between the lines, listening to rumors, and honestly suffering through some really terrible teams, the hopes were being fulfilled. As the season approached, the fanfare increased. The skyscrapers of downtown LA became full-length billboards to LeBron. The LA Times did a ten-page spread about his first game. Ticket prices sky-rocketed as everyone wanted to see his first home game. Mass media was everywhere. I live three miles from the stadium, and I could feel the energy from my living room. The king had arrived! I cannot hide this fact - I’m so happy about it! But here’s the reality - the hope for LeBron, the announcement of his coming, and his arrival doesn’t compare to Christ’s…even in stature, excitement, and fanfare.
I often hear pastors and Christians opine the arrival of Jesus as if it was nondescript, irrelevant, quiet, and understated. What we mean is, He wasn’t born “culturally” famous and relevant. But Jesus was born cosmically glorious. This is what the angels sing, “Glory to God in the Highest!” His birth was the most glorious. The birth of most renown. The birth of history.
Yes, it happened in a small town in a conquered country that essentially served as the highway underpass of the Roman Empire. Yes, it happened to a poor family who was subject to the rule of a distant emperor. Yes, it happened outside a hospital. Yes, we cannot conceive, through our modern, Western eyes, of a birth more horrifying. But it was the most glorious. I think Luke wants us to see exactly that as he tells the story. In Luke 2:1-10 (NIV), he writes:
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Comparison of Kingdoms The story begins with Caesar, the Roman world, and a governor with complete power. Caesar had the power to call on the entire world to be counted so he could know how many people belonged to him. And, the world obeyed. Imagine that power to command the nations to return to their hometowns and declare themselves a subject to you. That phrase: “Everyone went to their own town” is a phrase of complete devotion to Caesar and his rule and reign. It makes me think of Isaiah 9, “the government will rest on his shoulders” and there will be no end to His government. Reading the first few paragraphs of this story you can’t help but think, “Wait, is Caesar the mighty god and prince of peace?”
In fact, I cannot help but reflect on my heart, and perhaps yours too,
This Advent season has been a delight for me as we’ve walked through hope and peace. Now we turn our gaze toward joy. Our modern dictionaries define joy as a feeling of great happiness. It’s essentially pleasure plus, or extra good vibes. That’s not what’s meant by joy in Scripture. It’s not an exaggerated happiness. It’s completely other. Beyond a feeling, it’s a possession, a posture, and response to reality. And so we dive into this complex theme of joy.
But before we talk about shepherds and choirs of angels and a manager, we must talk about a specific character. The epitome of Advent. The caricature of preparing room: John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus. Through his life, we learn at least in part, the meaning of joy to the world. The Preparer of the Way John the Baptist’s story begins with his parents, Zachariah and Elizabeth. They were faithful, righteous, and longing people. They were expectant, like many of the people in Israel, that one day, God would send the promised rescuer; that after 700 years of being conquered, exiled, and ruled, God would redeem them and rule their lives. Zachariah and Elizabeth were also longing people, longing for a child. They are in the pantheon of biblical couples who struggled through the pain, sorrow, and roller coaster of infertility.
Then, in the midst of unmet expectations for nation and couple, an angel appears to Zachariah—even as he’s performing the task as a priest of reminding God of His promise. This angel makes a new promise. The time is ready. God will accomplish what He set out to accomplish. Get ready. It’s coming. Not only the Rescuer but a son to Zachariah. And this son would be like the prophets of old and he would come as the precursor to the Messiah.
John the Baptist was that promised child. His life carried special instructions and special purpose. His life was predicted in Isaiah 40:3 to be a voice crying out in the wilderness. John that Baptist was born to be that voice.
He was to be like Elijah and he was to remind his people who God is and who they are to be. He was to call them back to worship. His entire role was to prepare the way of for the coming of Jesus. He was to be the pointer and the marker of the coming hope and peace of God. Can you imagine that kind of life? Talk about great expectations. The son of parents that longed for a child for decades! The promised son from an angel to be the fulfillment of promises from the great prophet Isaiah, and to live a life in the pattern of the greatest prophet, Elijah. But, that’s exactly what he did.
He called people into the wilderness to turn towards God. He called them to a life of repentance of sins. Tax collectors, shepherds, and villagers went out to the desert to be baptized as a sign of repentance and longing for the coming Messiah. This is one of the strangest pieces of Jesus’ ministry: it rested on the foundation built by John the Baptist and all the prophets before him. Jesus doesn’t arrive in a vacuum. He doesn’t create a movement out of nothing. No, the way to the hearts of the people was paved by John the Baptist. He was a lone voice. He cried out. He faithfully preached.
His proclamation and life purpose from birth was to point people to the Rescuer, the Messiah. And when his moment came, he didn’t waver. As Jesus approached him at the start of His ministry, John declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 ESV) He’s the one we’ve waited for! Go, follow Him! He’s the one the human heart was created to adore, know, and be near. You’ve repented; He will restore. Not long after this amazing moment, John is arrested for resistance to oppression and wicked leadership.
What started as a long-promised life ends in a jail. His followers continue on, but his ministry is at a dead end. After the crowds are gone and the highs of ministry fade, he wonders, Will God do this thing? Is Jesus really the one?
This past week, each reflection has focused on the theme of Peace and the Kingdom Jesus’ birth brings. It all seems so wonderful. The birth of the saving king, so glorious. The highest glory has come to us!
When I imagine the birth of Jesus and His closeness to the arms of Mary, I struggle to get over the significant worth He’s placed on our world, on His Church, on you and I—that He would come. That He would enter in. That He would consume my story. How do we respond to it all? We Respond with Remembrance and Humility What Mary sings at the news of Jesus coming into the world through her body, gives us a glimpse into a response in Luke 1:46-55 “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”
We Respond by Going, Seeing, and Telling Then, after the Angels told the shepherds, we see their response which was filled with movement, wonder, exploration, and declaration. In Luke 2:15-17,20
“When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them…And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” The Heart, Mind, and Soul Worships In the already-arrived and in the soon-to-arrive-peace of Jesus, our whole selves worship the king of glory. Before you move onward this season, I want to invite you to meditate and imagine these moments. Imagine yourself hearing of the coming Peace on Earth. Imagine yourself seeing the king in a cradle. What do you see, what do you feel, what do you hear, who are you in light of the Christ child?
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My favorite Christmas movie is Joyeux Noel. It tells the true story of a Christmas Day Truce in the trenches of World War I between the Germans, French, and British. The cost of World War I was a lost generation. A horrible war that many hoped would have ended war. But in the midst of this war came a moment of worship and joy across the nations. On Christmas Eve, 1914, the two sides bent on destroying the other, began singing in their own languages “Silent Night” and “The First Noel”. The officers later met in “no man’s land” to exchange whiskey and cigars. A British soldier, Private Frederick Heath, recounted the evening this way:
“How could we resist wishing each other a Merry Christmas, even though we might be at each other’s throats immediately afterwards? So we kept up a running conversation with the Germans, all the while our hands ready on our rifles. Blood and peace, enmity and fraternity—war’s most amazing paradox. The night wore on to dawn—a night made easier by songs from the German trenches, the pipings of piccolos and from our broad lines laughter and Christmas carols. Not a shot was fired.”
By dawn, the soldiers found Christmas trees and walked across the barbed wire to celebrate, sing, and worship. They played soccer together. Chaplains and Priests of both sides led a unified Christmas service.
I love this movie and true story because it so tangibly describes our current moment in redemptive history. War still rages while we worship Christ’s first coming. Conflict and pain while we live as peacemakers. Battles are fought while the church grows up in the love that created it. There are moments when the weapons are put down at the remembrance of Emmanuel. The first Christmas creates peace on earth, that is true. But in Advent, we long for the coming peace and Christ’s second coming.
The Coming Peace One day, the “The nations will inquire about Jesus and the world will be filled with the knowledge of him” Gospel Saturation will happen. One day, there will only be plowshares…no spears. Jesus’ reign and rule will be uncontested. He will be the ruling prince of peace without enemy. His reign is marked by healing, too. It’s the healing of the nations. We’ve received the love of God in measures we cannot understand and yet there’s still more to come. And so, we respond to the Peace of Christmas with a longing for the next, with the understanding that we will find ourselves on battlefields until that day comes. Becoming a People that Say: Come Lord Jesus Come! The anthem of Advent is the phrase from the end of Revelation: Come Lord Jesus Come! Come quickly! We hope and long for the restoration. For the ending that is to come when everything is made right. Where evil is judged and where grace abounds. Where God dwells with His people!
What does it look like to become people who pray: Come! To be the Bride or the Church that says “Come!” It means endurance and faith. It means courage amidst war. It means speaking for justice and living with mercy. It means putting little stock in building our kingdom here and all investments on building the eternal kingdom.
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We all have a complicated relationship with the Church. It’s a ruckus communion of saints. It’s for many a place of quarreling, a place of scheming, a place of power, and even for those same people, a place of essential family. Our histories are that kind of mixed bag. Church, who we're called to be—all of us.
The first Christian church service was on Christmas Eve beneath a chorus of angels and surrounded by shepherds who came to see, touch, and behold the Savior. Angels from heaven and shepherds from fields.
As soon as Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the good news about God, He began calling disciples. He called fishermen and tax collectors. He called the ordinary and the outsider. He formed the relational and tangible environment of hope, faith, mission, love, and joy we call the church. Jesus, even from birth, creates a new humanity that doesn’t form based on salaries, ethnicity, geography, laws, worthiness, or intelligence. It’s formed by Him. Centered on Him. It’s a new humanity. Paul describes this formation of a new humanity in Ephesians 2:14-17 (NIV):
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. He Himself is Our Peace He is Himself our peace. The incarnation of Christ is our peace—our very own. Furthermore, in His flesh, He set aside the commands and regulations, He tears down the dividing wall among insiders and outsiders, and He removes the hostility. This new humanity of love is formed through His presence on earth, not in a tablet or temple but on this earth. It’s why communion is such a marvelous marker at Christmas Eve services; in it, we remember the birth of Jesus as a baby. He had a body. He had blood. He had vital organs, a brain, a need for nourishment. He was God with us! But that baby, with body and blood, born in Bethlehem would one day be given for you and me.
It Was His Purpose to Create One Body And in that reconciliation we wouldn’t be welcomed into a club, but into a new humanity. A new family. He did this to create a unified people. A people reconciled to one another through His death. He wasn’t just born to set His people free, but to make us together His people. He came preaching the gospel of peace to you and me. To those who were far off and to those who were pretty close. To the older brothers and the younger brothers! Christ Creates New Community Out of Our Mess Despite all these tools and ideas, you cannot create a community that bears with each other in love. In fact, I can guarantee there will be awkwardness, empty promises, lies, disappointments, and mini-disasters. Despite all of your attempts to clarify the gospel and the implication that we ought to love one another, the people you lead will not. Your community, more often than not, will feel like it is only a few steps away from falling apart.
This disappointment often brings out the hero complex in leaders. As they help shape a community and begin to watch people grow in caring for one another, they may be tempted to wrap up each person’s story by themselves. As things go poorly for different members or the whole, they rush to solve things. They force conflict resolution meetings, interventions, and tell people what to do next. When things still go poorly, they blame themselves. All the while they’ve lost sight of the Christ who called them to community, the Savior who forms it, the God who leads it.
Other leaders approach this disappointment by looking for new recruits. They look at the chaos of their missional community and conclude,
Growing up, my family spent each night of the holidays sitting beneath the glow of the Christmas tree and watching Christmas movies. We watched the original Miracle on 34th Street and the “new” Miracle on 34th Street (which I now realize is 20 years old). We watched the trilogy of The Santa Claus. We watched multiple versions of the Christmas Carol and romantic comedies that vaguely take place during Christmas like While You Were Sleeping. Each movie ends with lovely similarities: kissing, comfort, warm homes, snow, and singing. They end with Christmas as it was meant to be. This, we might imagine, is peace on earth! Shalom!
As we’ve examined earlier, that’s what the angels sang to us “Peace on Earth”, but Jesus also makes some rather confusing claims about how He came. In fact, He says very blatantly in Matthew 10:34-36, “Don’t think I came to bring peace on earth! I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”
On first blush, you might notice a few things. One, if Jesus came to get sons and fathers and mothers and daughters and in-laws to be against each other, mission accomplished! Two, Jesus is divisive. His kingdom doesn’t come with perfect snow and hugs gathered around the Christmas tree. The sword of Jesus’ life and existence puts a wedge in the world. But Jesus doesn’t stop at that quote. He goes on to say this:
“Whoever loves his father and mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”
Family isn’t everything. Your parents and your children are not everything. In fact, they aren’t worthy of your devotion. Jesus will not allow you to put your hope in your parent’s approval. He will not stomach your worship of children, their success, or their presence. He will not settle for a Christmas card. He demands full devotion. He demands you consider what God thinks of you. He is either the greatest gift you could ever receive or He’s not with you. Either you give everything you have and make all consideration for His will, purpose, and kingdom, or you haven’t really seen it yet. But that’s still not the end of the quote. Jesus goes on:
“And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
You must lose your life. You must do the calculus and the cost-benefit analysis with regards to your soul, personality, story, gifts, resources, time, energy, family, and money. Is Jesus worthy of your life? In our church, Soma Los Angeles, we often talk about our gospel identity. That we’re transformed by the gospel and given a new identity in Christ. What Jesus is describing here is: will you give up your identity as a mother, fathers, daughter, son to make way for your new identity in the gospel, my son, my servant, my ambassador? Will you surrender your self-made identity around your job, accomplishments, nuclear family, political party, causes, and schedule to make way for an identity marked by the cross of Jesus?
Jesus doesn’t come to bring a false peace where we continue to worship our family’s view of our lives. Jesus came to restore you to the one love, one hope, one Lord. The arrival of Jesus’ peace carries a choice: Is He worthy of everything, or is He worthy of nothing? Is Jesus King over everything, or is He King over nothing? The Call to Submit All to His Reign! After Jesus rose from the dead, He gathered His disciples together before He ascended into heaven. He makes this declaration in Matthew 28:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
How does the king come? We know He comes to change the world. We know He was born into our world. But how does Jesus come? What is the manner, the posture, the practice of Jesus’ incarnation? Returning to Mark’s description of Jesus’ arrival in Mark 1, right after the description that “Jesus came into Galilee”, we hear He came “proclaiming the gospel of God.”
To the collective of humanity, He comes proclaiming the gospel of God. Jesus doesn’t just come, He comes speaking. He comes announcing. In fact, the meaning of this word proclaiming gives the sense that this is what He was saying over and over again. This is His “stump speech” on the trail of global reconciliation. It’s the topic at every meal. It’s in His casual conversations, Mark writes that Jesus continued to talk about the gospel of God. What is that?
The word gospel simply means important, heralded news. Perhaps most commonly used as the message shared by messengers (or evangelists) coming from the battlefield to update the villages and towns within the kingdom: “The king has won and defeated the enemy! All is well and the war is over and we can enter peace.” A gospel is a newsworthy historical event that must be and is shared. Not only is it “breaking news”, it’s news that changes the lives of the people the news is intended for, whether they hear it or not. If you missed the announcement in the city square, the realities of the announcement still affected you.
Throughout history, there were many gospel proclamations of empire expansion. Each time, the news required a response and brings a change of life, worldview, and reality.
But Jesus doesn’t come proclaiming the gospel of Caesar or Alexander the Great. He comes proclaiming a gospel of God. Here He isn’t the messenger that speaks on behalf of a higher power and a distant war. He’s not just speaking on behalf of God, as priests and prophets do, He’s announcing the arrival of God’s victory that transforms the reality of the community He’s entering into. Jesus is proclaiming the news that God has come to us to defeat the kingdoms of sin, death, and evil and bring about his kingdom of grace, resurrection, and justice.
This is important: Jesus is not making a promise, He’s making an announcement with ramifications for everyone. This announcement proclaims God’s character, timing, and His coming to us. It’s good news for us, but it’s about God.
The gospel of God declares His glory, fame, love, and actions taken through His character and power. The gospel is not about humanity, our sin, evil, or death. It’s about God and His unrelenting and just love. The contents: “The is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand.” The Time is Fulfilled The first phrase of the good news about God, in Jesus’ ongoing proclaiming is this: the story has reached its climax. It’s not get ready, it’s not wait and see because it’s here. All human history has been leading to this point. Every prophecy. Every longing heart. Every promise. The time is now. Jesus didn’t just arrive to teach us how to leave. He didn’t come explaining the power of love. Jesus’ arrival is the beginning of the renewal and redemption of all things. The Kingdom of God is at Hand The kingdom of God has arrived. The kingdom of God is where God’s rule and reign is uncontested. The kingdom of God is where every wrong thing becomes right.
The Bible describes, in its opening lines, a world created by God, with God, for God, and for a thriving humanity enjoying the fruit of an incredible creator who knows His creation and His creation knows Him. All of this is to God’s fame and glory. Humans were in love with one another, given purpose, fulfillment, and deep community with one another in addition to unity with God. The cry for rescue is inconceivable in the opening pages of the Bible. But then, everything spirals out of control and from chapter three onward humanity collectively cries out for rescue,
Wherever he reigns, His thriving and flourishing will be there, too! His law is peace.
On May 19, 2018, Prince Harry of England married Meghan Markle in Windsor, England. The event was marked by the usual fanfare of such weddings: notable people, extravagant clothing, international media, commentary, vows, a sermon, a bridal veil, and love. There were a few notable or unique things that happened: Meghan walked herself two-thirds of the way down the aisle until her future father-in-law, Prince Charles, walked with her the last third, but by no means “gave her away.” Furthermore, Meghan was the first mixed race (being half black and white) to marry into the Royal family. Even more unconventional, she also wasn’t of nobility, had been divorced, was an actress, and an American. Even though Harry is quite far from the throne and all of those previously mentioned factors, this wedding became the most-watched royal wedding in history. More people watched this wedding than William and Kate’s, and more than his father’s wedding to Lady Diana. Most ordinarily, however, it was a wedding.
The morning after, a journalist for an international news magazine wrote an article with this headline: “This Wedding Changes Everything!” The journalist went on to note everything I just mentioned and expound on how the ceremony was transforming international politics, racism, sexism, and even religious strife all in one swoop. Implied is this: elections, education, fame, power, laws, military, Hollywood, or even weddings can heal our broken world.
However, the other headlines from that day in the United States were about the president being subpoenaed, a shooting at a school in Texas, and the falling apart of nuclear talks with North Korea. And yet, a wedding in Windsor had changed everything!
It’s understandable to hope in that sort type of transformation—that variety of world peace. It’s a lovely sentiment; the love and union of two highly famous people could change the world. After all, fame facilitates change. Plus, they are two highly educated and talented people, which, in our post-enlightened viewpoint, leads to the greatest types of change. Education, talent, and reason are the beginnings of world change! Add to all these factors ethnic and historical backgrounds, TV ratings, and the wardrobes and it’s not hard to exclaim, “This Changes Everything!” Even though we all know it doesn’t. The world doesn’t work that way. World peace doesn’t arrive that way.
Fame, education, talent, power, and personality do not solve the world’s deep problems of injustice, evil, and war. In fact, we instinctively know this wedding likely won’t change a human heart outside the two central figures who exchanged vows and their future children. Here lies the problem: if all the talent, power, fame, and beauty in the world can’t defeat the anxiety, depression, anger, and angst within your own heart, how could it transform the world? What can bring it peace?
The promise in the Story of God says, a Child, a Son, and His government or rule. Isaiah 9:2-7 says: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom,
At the center of the angel’s announcement on the first Christmas night is this phrase found in Luke 2:14; it’s what Linus quotes at the end of A Charlie Brown Christmas: “Glory to God in the Highest, and peace on earth towards men.” “Peace on earth” sounds so trite that most of us would rather ignore it. What kind of peace? Who’s peace? And for those that experience the pain of this world in real-time, the promise of peace on earth, even from the voice of angels, seems void on arrival.
U2’s song, “Peace on Earth,” released at the turn of the century, they put words to what I often feel. The lyrics go in part like this: Heaven on earth We need it now I'm sick of all of this Hanging around Sick of sorrow Sick of pain Sick of hearing again and again That there's gonna be Peace on earth No who’s or why’s No-one cries like a mother cries For peace on earth She never got to say goodbye To see the color in his eyes Now he's in the dirt Peace on earth They're reading names out over the radio All the folks the rest of us won't get to know Sean and Julia, Gareth, Ann and Brenda Their lives are bigger than any big idea Jesus, can you take the time To throw a drowning man a line? Peace on earth To tell the ones who hear no sound Whose sons are living in the ground Peace on earth Jesus, in the song you wrote The words are sticking in my throat Peace on earth Hear it every Christmas time But hope and history won't rhyme So what's it worth? This peace on earth
These questions - What’s it worth, and what is this peace on earth? - I believe, are the questions of this cultural moment. They aren’t intellectual; they’re visceral. They’re emotional. Does Jesus make a difference on this earth? Does heaven touch earth? Will anything stop peace? Most of my neighbors and friends are, like Bono, tired of hearing about it every Christmas time. Sick of sorrow. Sick of pain. Sick of not knowing what to say to those whose sons are in the ground.
So, what do the angels mean when they sing, “Glory to God in the Highest and peace on earth to men?” What is it worth? I think most people answer this question in three ways: Is Peace an Absence of War? Peace in this concept is no more war, battle, shooting, weapons. It is a cessation of conflict between nations that create violence. Essentially, we just all get along. We put our weapons down and cable news channels go out of business. This is found in the Bible throughout the Old Testament. We even read in a previous reflection about the lions eating alongside cows. Elsewhere we hear of weapons for death turned into gardening tools. The nations of the earth ending their wars with one another is part of peace on earth. The child born in Bethlehem will bring about an end to wars. But that’s not all this peace on earth is worth. Jesus doesn’t establish a United Nations, NATO, or a peace won through the principle of mutual annihilation. Honestly, most of us would settle for that value of peace on earth.
Is Peace an Absence of Conflict with Each Other? Christmas and the internal sentimental demands create the perfect environment, not for peace, but for conflict. Spouses disparage each other’s abilities to decorate cookies, presents drain the bank account, and stress grows as you consider the bubbling family disunity that will be on display as you gather at your parent’s house. Does the peace on earth the angels announce vanquish the relational unrest? These micro-battles between persons are as self-evident as geopolitical ones. Does the arrival of Jesus throw us a line in redeeming the shame and guilt between humans that has fermented since that weary day in the garden when Adam and Eve saw themselves as naked and blamed one another? Yes. Jesus removes the walls of hostility as He bears our shame in His body and blood. Jesus gathers us from the domain of darkness and places us in the holy communion of saints centered on His rescue.
Christmas can be a time of lights, trees, parties, and decadent food, but it is definitely a season of grief and sadness. For some, it’s the grief of a lost childhood; the holidays remind us of all the brokenness our young lives were immersed in. For many, Christmas is a strong reminder of the death of a spouse, parent, or child. Christmas was the last time my wife spoke with her mother.
Throughout these first days, we’ve looked back at God’s faithfulness in fulfilling every promise of hope He gave His children concerning Jesus. The first prophets boldly proclaimed God’s coming amidst vast consumerism, greed, and a society that seemed “well off”. Then, in later years, prophets declared this hope amidst a broken society, exile, and confusion. As the people grieved the loss of everything, the prophets said things like, “Prepare the way of the Lord! The Lord will gather his people! The King will come and rule with justice and all will be made right.” The Psalmists also wrote in the same time, however, “The Lord watches over us!” Accompanying Hope Advent is a moment that pushes us into this odd kind of mourning—a mourning with hope. Grief or mourning described in the Scriptures challenges our notions of grief. It isn’t a Hemingway-esq burying of all emotions and denial of pain. It isn’t a journey to “getting over it” or moving on. On the other hand, it’s not a constant groveling in that pain either. Often, we’re prone to make our grief the central thing about ourselves and the central thing about God. We belittle people’s attempts to speak words of life, encouragement, or truth. The Scriptures don’t tell us how to grieve, but they tell us what we possess in our grief. The Bible tells us of the accompanying presence of hope.
Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 (NLT):
Dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.
And then in 1 Peter 1:3-6 (NIV):
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
The incarnation of God in Jesus guarantees hope as a possession in every trial and at the foot of every grave of every fallen saint. The core of your mourning contains a lasting hope in Christ’s arrival, His death, His resurrection, and His return. This hope doesn’t expel weeping, often it welcomes it.
When you are informed, as Paul says, of the hope of Christ, or when you’ve received the inheritance of hope, as Peter describes, you see the world more clearly. You see the fractured marriages, you see the pain of loneliness, the injustice of poverty, the horror of war, and all of creation itself cracking under the weight of pressure of human sin. You see those things, knowing this is not how Jesus intended His world to be. You also see those things and know that, through the sacrifice of Christ’s life and in the great wealth of His love, all of this will be made new.
I invite you to spend time reflecting on this question: What hope does this Christ-Child Almighty God bring you? Where do you need that hope?
How will you respond when it arrives in the ordinary and the humble?
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“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor bears a son, and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites.
He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. Micah 5:2-4
Yesterday, we talked about the glorious arrival of God. Here is the mystery of a God who comes in awe and might to conquer all sin, death, and evil in the birth of a baby…born like you and me. Mary experienced the cursed birth pains as she delivered the Son who would set all free from the penalty of sin. Jesus was born like you and me, amidst chaos. In the moments after His birth, He had to be cleaned and swaddled. In the coming days, He had to learn to receive nourishment from His mother through breastfeeding. He had diapers that needed to be changed. He likely fell asleep tied to His parents as they walked home. The One who would walk on water had to learn to walk like the rest of us, stumbling, crawling, and clinging to our father’s pinkies. Jesus was a vulnerable, dependent child. The phrase of the angels, “born this day”, must alarm the senses when we allow it to sink in—Savior in a swaddle.
One of my favorite authors and the original “ragamuffin,” Brennan Manning, writes this about the mystery and our response:
Pious imagination and nostalgic music rob Christmas of its shock value, while some scholars reduce the crib to a tame theological symbol. But the [humble and needy] at the stable tremble in adoration of the Christ-child and quake at the inbreak of God Almighty. Because all the Santa Clauses and red-nosed reindeer, fifty-foot trees and thundering church bells put together create less pandemonium than the infant Jesus when, instead of remaining a statute in the crib, he comes alive and delivers us over the life that he came to light.
We hope in a Child. We hope a helpless baby can restore all things, even us. God plans with purpose, from centuries past, for this child to overcome the world.
Do We Reflect Our Savior’s Humility and Power in Our Lives? In Acts 2, we find ordinary people sharing meals in homes while surrounded by “signs and wonders”. In 1 Timothy, Paul commends us to “live such quiet and simple lives among the gentiles”. In Peter’s eloquent passage on suffering and serving Christ in his first letter, he quickly adds, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”
The incarnation of humble hope in Jesus calls us into a life of humility and hope, too. As Christ came into our world, so should we enter our neighborhoods living ordinary lives with an extraordinary hope.
Would your neighbors observe a humble people with a quiet strength? Would they see people marked by the humble and awe-inspiring arrival of the King of glory? Or, which is often the case, would they find frantic Christians coming to and from their house living a busy life at a church building?
Does your life demonstrate a Good News which comes in the form of a dependent baby and a mighty King?
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Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. Isaiah 40:9-11 When I was a kid, the #1 soccer player in the world was a handsome, Portuguese man named Luis Figo. If you remember him on the soccer field, you’re privileged. The way he passed, the way he ran, the way he shot the ball, was poetry. His #7 jersey flew off the racks in my hometown of Lisbon. He played for Real Madrid, the greatest and biggest soccer club in the world. Figo was transcendent.
During spring break, my junior year of high school, I went on a choir tour across Europe in a big touring bus. We made a pit stop off the highway in Madrid on our way home. As my friends and I were buying candy and soda, the transcendent became imminent. Figo was pumping gas like a demigod while his super-model wife sat in the passenger seat.
Our lives stopped as he came into the shop to pay his bill. Figo, the Portuguese patron saint of the people, was greeted by dozens of high school kids from his hometown. Some of us shouted. Some of us took pictures. Some of us were wearing his jersey and got autographs. Some of us were captivated by awe. We called our parents. We told all of our friends who missed the whole thing because they were asleep on the bus. It was, without exaggeration, the event of my high school years, standing in the same candy aisle as an icon, getting change from the same cashier (maybe our change was the same money he had!), hearing and feeling the energy of his fame, his worth, his power. His Arrival This is how Jesus comes into our world. Isaiah 40:9-11 is the call to receive Him on those terms. “Behold, the Lord comes!” The words of great news: “Behold he comes with might! His arm rules!” Jesus comes with might. This passage makes it clear; prepare to be afraid.
Now, you might be thinking, “That sounds scary! Jesus doesn’t enter the world as a powerful King ready to make judgment and to rule. Doesn’t He actually come as a cute baby born in a birth story worthy of the entire blogosphere?”
In the incarnation, God’s transcendent power becomes imminent power. The extraordinary receives ordinary swaddling cloths. But don’t be fooled. He arrives as King. Jesus isn’t born weak, but mighty. The otherness of God doesn’t disappear but comes close. He walks into the world—our world. Our mundane tasks are enveloped in His presence. Now, this is fundamental; the glory of Christ’s incarnation is good news.
The weight and power of darkness is not too much for Jesus.
The sinister shame of sin is not too much for Jesus.
The powers of this world and all its injustice is not too much for Jesus.
He is the greatest and He will be victorious. His fame is above all others. His worth exceeds them all. His might, judgment, and will overcomes this decaying world. You’re right. That’s scary. God’s transcendent power becomes imminent power.
How do we respond to this incarnation? 1) We Herald the Good News of the King Christmas creates missionaries. “Go up, stand up, lift up your voice,” Isaiah says. Be strong and bold and tell the cities, “Behold, your God!” We shout the news of a Savior who can and who will save. We become highway signs pointing to the One who comes. Just as I tripped over myself telling my friends about Figo, we go into the world to tell about Christ’s coming. We become heralds, royal announcers, who tell this news well with clarity, strength, but also with tenderness, which leads us to the second response.
As I mentioned previously, our family always cuts down a Christmas tree. Each year, we leave a stump in the ground—something that was once growing is now dead. Stumps in Oregon are a part of life. In fact Portland was built on the foundation of stumps. Bare hillsides in Oregon, where the forestry department utilizes a strategic plan for deforestation, make for haunting drives as you imagine the density and life that once filled skies and cast long shadows. The stumps whisper the story of life gone by, not the story of life to come. Yet, one prominent image of Advent is the stump.
The stump, where you’ve been cut down. The stump, where you’re soul has gone quiet. The stump, where you’ve been destroyed. The stump is that tangible picture in everyday life that the world is not thriving but decaying. What are the stumps in your daily life? What are those visible images of sin, death, and evil? A Person Isaiah 11:1-10 says, get ready for the fruitful branch that will come from the stump.
Read Isaiah 11:1-10.
Out of death, there’s hope and it’s a Person. Yes, out of the stump will come a shoot, a frail glimmer of life that will become a branch that will then bear fruit. Then, verse 2, Isaiah says: Him. The Spirit will rest on Him. From the ground of death will come a Person. A Person who will make things right. He will be wise and judge. He will see. He will decide. He will make peace out of war. Out of the stump will come fruit. When He comes, death will be turned to life. He will rule and be in charge. Finally! There will be someone to care. Not only that.
Isaiah goes on to describe the most bizarre picture of world peace! With the near naïveté of a beauty pageant contestant, Isaiah promises the shoot from the stump will make wolves sleep with lambs, calves snuggle with lions. Children leading the parade! Cows and bears together. The hunted and the hunter living at peace. The world no longer at odds.
Longing for Hope While this passage speaks a message of great hope and sits in the pantheon of must-quote Christmas passages, I find many Christians bored with it. It doesn’t do anything for them. If anything, it doesn’t describe a life longed for in Jesus, but a life already received through the power of the holy supermarket, the wisdom of Wall Street, the counsel of consumerism, and knowledge and fear of the other.
In fact, I frequently encounter Christians that have little use for the coming Kingdom of God. It unnerves them to imagine this world making way for the world of Jesus. Perhaps you are such a Christian. You, with the help of a few others, have already built a peaceful kingdom. You hope things stay the same. If God wants to add a cherry on top, so be it, especially if it comes in the package you envision. So long as it fits the decorative tastes of your kingdom.
The hope described in the Bible feels like a luxury for the put-together, the self-sufficient, the safe, the secure, and the stable. Hope for the independently secure is like fine jewelry to wear around the house. It’s like the orange put in your stocking on Christmas morning. It’s a nice accent piece for an already secure life. Is the hope of Christ’s coming as a garnish?
To a person who lives in chaos, who breathes in the atmosphere of injustice, who tarries in the tyranny of trauma: hope is currency. Hope that injustice will become justice. Hope that death will become life. Hope that war will become peace. Hope that wounds will become wholeness. Hope for Christ’s coming, for the needy, is the foundation of life.
Isaiah 11:1-10 is that kind of hope. But it isn’t generic, blind hope. Its focus is on a King who is coming to bring justice. To make wrong things right. Sick things healthy. Outsiders insiders. Are you longing for hope?
See, your level of expectation and longing for Jesus’ Kingdom is the barometer of your soul towards God. I’m convinced one of the main reasons we struggle to embrace our i...
“Jesus came into Galilee” is offered as hope, the first hope. After centuries of silence, of struggle, and continued sin, the resignation of the people was, “No one is coming.” And yet, Jesus came into Galilee. “No-one-is-coming” is over, replaced forever with, “Jesus came.” These words cannot be ignored. In fact, the whole of the Christian faith is bound by these words. Rescue has come. Jesus came into Galilee and His arrival itself was good news. A man named Jesus, which means Savior from the sins of the world, walked into the real world. Willingly came. Joyfully Entered. Arrived. Savior. Incarnation.
Incarnation is the first miracle of the gospel. It isn’t the turning of water into wine, the cleansing of lepers, or, for our more tightly wound friends, the preaching with authority. No, all those things are symptoms of this inciting miracle of God taking on flesh and living among us. The Apostle Paul writes saying the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Him. John says that He was the message and the message took on flesh. Luke tells us of shepherds while Matthew speaks of wise men. Mark, in almost Hemingway minimalism says, “Jesus came into Galilee.”
God arrives with a body, with a hometown, with a voice, and with a name.
What's in a Name A whiteboard came into our living room as the decision-maker, the name-maker. With friends and family, it guided us through the work of “educated” people. Brainstorming led us to the name of our first child, Norah Rocha Watson. Norah, a Celtic name meaning ray of light and compassion, acknowledged my spiritual mentorship, albeit through books, under St. Patrick. Rocha and Watson, rooted this new child in her family and union of marriage from her mother and me. Maitê Rocha Watson’s name arrived from the power of God’s grace and love poured into our marriage through a year of marriage counseling. Maitê means beloved and when we say her name, we’re reminded that we are the beloved children of God. Our last child, a boy, received the name Truman Salvador Watson. When we say his name, we pray he we grow up into a true man of God, finding his masculinity as son of God. Salvador is the city that buried his grandmother. We also named him that to remind us and him of the Savior. In Jesus, salvation has a name.
There’s no more out-of-place name in our world today than Jesus. While “God” is as stylish as ever, gracing the platforms of political speeches, patriotic songs, and the thank you’s of award ceremonies, the particularity of God with a name is confrontational. Outside the confines of church buildings and community groups, His name sounds forced, confrontational, and even simplistic. But, there’s a lot in a name. Jesus, we learn and see in Matthew’s gospel, wasn’t plucked out of a baby name book, summoned from Joseph or Mary’s family trees, or a result of a brainstorm. He shall be called Jesus, the Lord will save His people from their sin.
His name is out of fashion because it, in part, makes a claim our minds find hard to digest: we have a problem with sin and we need saving. His name disrupts our understanding of self-fulfillment and self-sufficiency.
Cornelious Plantinga writes this well in his breviary of sin, Not The Way it’s Supposed to Be. “Our world has been vandalized by sin. We’ve perverted, polluted, and disintegrated God’s shalom and our shalom.” Sin is a perversion of humanity. Every sin committed twists your soul and the soul of others. Short words, middle fingers, constant consumption, jealousy, greed, and selfishness all pervert the souls of men and women. Furthermore, sin pollutes. Sin is an oil-spill on the Great Barrier Reef of humanity.
All that God intended of the world, shalom, has been marred by human sin. Christianity’s Problem of Sin While the term “sin” continues to vanish from our vernacular, its presence cannot be exaggerated or ignored. GK Chesterton famously said,
On a December morning in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012, children and teachers were likely gearing up for a day filled with gluing cotton balls onto Santa beards when a 20-year-old man came into the school shooting and killing 20 children between the ages of six and seven. Six adults were also killed. There should be a bigger and weightier word than “tragedy,” but I can’t find one.
In the days and even years following the murder and death of 27 humans, we focused on mental health: how has the human brain and emotions gotten so perverted? It also focused on guns: how did humanity create such efficient, cold, and callous tools for death? I remember talking about safety: why can’t we protect our most young? What happened was death. It was evil. It was sin. And while for many of us in America it was a shock to our system, this was also just another news story in the grand scheme of genocide, greed, war, abuse, assault, murder, and terror. This is our world. One of the reasons I love the Bible is not just it’s beauty and purpose, but also its realism; the story of the world is not right. The reason I’ve given so much of my life to reading the Bible is because it also offers the story of what will make the world right, new, and beautiful. Strangely, Advent takes us into both the broken and the hope. The Story of Advent One of the best Advent passages is found in Genesis 15:1-6. There’s a great one in Deuteronomy 18:15-19, and still another inspiring one in Psalm 89:1-4. But, before we get into those, let's go to the first one: Genesis 2:1 — 3:15 and work our way back.
Genesis 2 is the arrival of the world with humans. What a thought. The beginning of humanity. Genesis 2 describes the perfect garden for humans to thrive. There are rivers and trees and animals. And God (like a potter) forms man, breathing into the nostrils, life. Imagine that! God so close in creation that He put His breath in him and that breath creates life. Humanity doesn’t exist apart from God’s intimate presence and generosity. God walks with the Adam in the cool of the day, in rest and in labor. Then creates for Adam human relationship. Human companionship. When Adam sees Eve, he says: “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” Believe it or not, this the beginning of the Advent Story.
Next, Adam and Eve rebel against the living God who breathed life into them. The Maker and Sustainer of their entire universe. The Serpent came and asked: “Did God really say if you eat it you will become like God? He doesn’t want that.” Then eating the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they knew shame, hiding, and guilt. But, God comes to them. He calls to them. He asks for them. This is the second act of Advent; God came to humanity (even in the early pages of this story), seeking the ones He loved. He also comes explaining justice—the brokenness of shame, guilt, and striving to be god will result in catastrophic relationships, work, birth, environment, futility, and separation from the source of Life. In this second act, God seeks the people He formed to be His image and declares the reality of rebellion away from Him: a life of death. He informs them of a different world, a world we inhabit today.
But in the midst of that curse, God gives a promise: a Child or Seed from Eve will oppose and do battle with Evil—with the Serpent. The Serpent will be destroyed, but it will cost the life of this Heir of Adam and Eve. One day, a child of Eve will crush the Serpent and be bruised. The promise of redemption and restoration one day. This is the third act of Advent: Promise. Hope. This is the one we often inhabit, of God’s plan to re-create the world. God’s promise to send a Savior.
There are many promises. In Genesis 15, God promises to create a family that will bless the whole world. That the heir to Abraham will be a blessing. Blessing here isn’t a little gift; it’s a making right. Hope from a Child.
Christmas is a magical time for kids as they see the glow of lights, trees in the home, and packages accumulate. It’s also the season when we get to regularly articulate the meaning and nature of God coming to us to save us. This, to my four-year-old, is the most astonishing of questions: “Why did God have to come, anyway?” Why did God have to come? To deal with sin for the sake of resurrecting our lives from the dead. The nativity narrative makes major claims that cannot be ignored: the world is not right—we are not right. Cornelious Plantinga writes this well in his breviary of sin, Not The Way it’s Supposed to Be. “Our world has been vandalized by sin. We’ve perverted, polluted, and disintegrated God’s shalom and our shalom.” All that God intended of the world, shalom, has been marred by human sin. The consequences are devastatingly final: death.
See, the meaning of the season is not only Jesus’ birth, but the purpose for His birth. The manger is not the setting of a peaceful and gentle gift from God to a cozy world. The cradle is occupied by Christ because our world is at odds with Christ. The birth of Jesus ought to shock us as much as the flood of Noah. God has entered the world to see it judged, reconciled, and saved. When the Angels sing: Joy to the Lord, the Savior’s come. The Angels are saying, “The World is in need of a savior!” We are in need of judgement for sin, reconciliation for the effect of sin, and salvation from the result of sin. Christ’s first coming is the introduction to His great passion for the world. It’s the beginning of His death and resurrection. Jesus was born on death row for our sake. Why Did God Choose to Come? The last deeply spiritual question children ask in their curiosity is this: Why? Why did God choose to come? Jesus offers the Church today the full meaning of the Christmas season through the often forgotten Christmas verse:
“God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only son.” John 3:16 (NLT)
This is our family’s verse during Advent. Each month, thanks to Mirela’s intentional motherly eye, we try to memorize a verse while we eat dinner. We’re able to work on the verse about 50% of the time (the rest of the time is filled with spills, screams, and lots of loud singing from our three kids—many of our meals feel like they’re straight out of the garbage crushing scene in Star Wars). We aren’t heroes, and honestly, we’re pretty great parents even when we don’t do the Bible verse. Back to our Bible verse for Advent, John 3:16. While John 3:16a feels cliché because of our over-familiarity, it’s far from trite. It’s history-shattering truth.
Our children have successfully memorized the first half, and this alone is hard to grasp. God exists. God loves. He loves the world. The world is the object of God’s love. In John’s writing, “the world” speaks to forces, powers, attitudes, and beliefs that are in complete opposition to God and His ways. This verse says the Creator of the universe loves the world opposed to Him. That’s not all; God loves the world so much. God loved the world lavishly, overwhelmingly, or wastefully. I told my children to remember how Will Farrel’s Elf pours generous, overflowing amounts of syrup on each meal. This is how God pours His love out to the world.
The second half of this verse explains Christmas. God gave. He wasn’t under compulsion by legal requirements or drama. He freely and lovingly gave His Son. The gift of the Child of Bethlehem is the tangible love of God into a world that didn’t deserve to receive such a gift.
Our two-year-old always stresses SO MUCH. It’s part shout and part laugh. Her reciting the verse is 100% joy. Even in her youth, she has captured only a sliver of God’s truth and it’s enough for joy. The joy-inducing truth is that we have received this abundant love of the Father by the Son and through the Spirit. Who Do We Become Because He Came? C.S.
Christmas Tree Hunting In the early days of Advent, we drive out to the Beck family farm to cut down a Christmas tree. Our only rule is it must be shorter than “Mom” so it will fit in our house. This rule is always disappointing, especially as you walk around towering and beautiful trees. Instead of those giants, we pick a tree that only slightly dwarfs Charlie Brown’s. And yet, once we bring the tree into our house, we realize it’s too big. There isn’t room. We have to move furniture, change our seating arrangements, and move lamps out of the living room. It inconveniences everything. It disrupts our feng shui.
Our children clamor to decorate it as fast as possible, placing all the ornaments on the bottom half of our tree. The whole, lovely experience involves getting muddy, dirtying our car, moving furniture, pulling boxes out of the basement, and attempts at teaching a five-year-old the aesthetic of a balanced Christmas tree.
This is one of my favorite moments. It’s the moment we prepare room in our house for the Christmas season. It’s the moment we make our house ready for the ongoing celebration that is full of expectation of God’s arrival. This physical discipline and family moment is an outward expression of what takes place within us.
You are a Disciple and Worshipper of God Advent is a fresh invitation from God to prepare room in our hearts, minds, souls, and bodies to worship Him. This is the call to worship we hear as we sing in Joy to the World: “Let every heart, prepare him room.” This is not merely a missional call toward the world but it is a call to each other and ourselves in community.
Many leaders and missional communities forget we are welcomed into a life of enjoying God, knowing His love, and experiencing His presence in our lives. We forget that we are God’s mission and on God’s mission. You and your community were created to live the gospel in unity with God. To taste the grace of God through repentance and faith. To worship God through confession. To know the depth of God’s love by listening to God. Christopher Friedrich Blumhardt notes the discipline we undertake of preparing room and searching for God’s work today…even in the ordinary.
"One does not always have to wait for something out of the ordinary. The all-important thing is to keep your eyes on what comes from God and to make way for it to come into being here on the earth. If you always try to be heavenly and spiritually minded, you won’t understand the everyday work God has for you to do. But if you embrace what is to come from God, if you live for Christ’s coming in practical life, you will learn that divine things can be experienced here and now."
This requires an intentional focus, just like the welcoming of a Christmas tree into your living room. How will you prepare room in your heart? How will you look for God’s presence? How will you turn your ear to hearing His voice?
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We have a new resource for kids, families, communities, and churches. I'm very excited about it. This children's resource began as a simple guide for missional communities at Bread&Wine, a Soma Church in Portland, Oregon in 2009, during my first year as a member of that church planting team. At the time we had a quickly multiplying group of missional communities that included children of all ages and stages. As we grew in making disciples in that city our conviction grew about the need to equip the next generation for the mission and life in the church.
We created Gospel Basics for Kids to be a robust gospel-centered and missional curriculum that could be used in any situation. We designed it to be relational, story-based, and equipping because we believe the good news about Jesus is good news for everyone and every age. Over the years, that simple guide has grown and improved with the work of many in the Soma Family and Saturate world to now include original songs, leader preparation guides, and original illustrations. This is one of our most beautiful resources, yet! I hope you'll enjoy it.
Gospel Basics for Kids helps form children into disciples of Jesus who can make disciples of Jesus. If we are to see our children living out their identities as children of God, disciples, missionaries, and servants, they need the same gospel truths that transform us. Gospel Basics for Kids is a 14-week curriculum journey that engages children's understanding of the gospel, belief in the gospel, and living the gospel in their daily lives. Applicable for families, communities, and churches, this story-based approach roots children in the essentials of the gospel and the implications of the gospel in every aspect of life.
There's a lot we're excited about that accompanies this great resource:
A leadership preparation guide for each week that helps adults engage the content for their own lives before they lead the kids. Beautiful illustrations, coloring sheets, activities, and crafts to help kids deepen their understanding of the gospel. Conversation guides that help adults discuss the deep truths of Jesus with every child. Tips, songs, videos, and more for teachers and kids alike.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and Jeff Vanderstelt talk about the tension many believers face: they want to see the way they're being discipled and discipling others transformed into what they see in the Bible (or read in Saturate). They're convicted. They're bought in. But, it's hard to know what to do. The reality is, being convicted and repentant, they're on a journey of making a micro and macro shifts over the course of time.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and Jared Pickney talk about the importance of developing an intentional plan for developing people throughout every area of church life. They give examples, share important things to consider, and encourage leaders in practicing a long obedience in the same direction. Here's the file Jared talks about throughout the episode.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with poet and apparel designer, Preston Perry, about loving people of different faiths and speaking the truth with boldness and grace. Check his work out on his YouTube channel: BoldTV.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Saturate Managing Director, Amy Lathrop about being an introvert in a missional community. They discuss the power, potential, and necessity of having all perspectives and personalities in a missional community.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Jonathan Dodson about the person of the Holy Spirit, who He is, and what it means to live a life transformed by him. What if the Church was awakened to know the presence of the Spirit in us? Get Jonathan's new book, Here in Spirit.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Ric Olson, who leads a church in Southern California that has been transitioning toward making disciples in the everyday stuff of life. Ric shares his church's story and how he's seen God work in the lives of people as their church makes minor and major shifts.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with David Achata about a new premium podcast we're launching for leaders of leaders. Plus give you a preview of the first episode with Todd Engstrom and Jeff Vanderstelt. Get the entire series at: saturatetheworld.com/leadershipmovement.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with writer and artist, Jackie Hill Perry about her new book Gay Girl, Good God. Their conversation touches on topics related to her story, temptation, how the church can love homosexuals, and identity. Get her book at: www.gaygirlgoodgod.com
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Chris Gonzalez and Kevin Platt of Missio Dei in Phoenix, about the power of the Story of God and how the reality of the Scriptures as one redemptive story changes how we make and mature disciples.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with author, pastor, and international equipper, Cole Brown about the power of being present, pointing to the goodness of the father, focusing on the basics, and being willing to be bored. All that while talking about the 1984 film, The Karate Kid.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Jared Pickney and Adam Breckenridge of Fellowship Paragould about how they are implementing DNA groups within their missional communities. They talk about why, the structure, leadership, and what a DNA group meeting looks like. They also revisit their conversation about the enneagram from Episode 11.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and Ben Connelly wrap up the "What's Essential" series with an open conversation on our dependence on the Scriptures, Holy Spirit, and patience for taking small steps forward in the gospel, community, and mission.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Steve Hart, pastor of Soma Spokane, about their church's journey with mission and disciple making and how the Holy Spirit has been leading them to root communities in the purpose of the gospel.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and Ben Connelly talk about the importance and power of a community being rooted in the content practices of repenting and believing the gospel. They briefly tackle the topics of repentance and faith in community conflict, discipleship, and even the power of repentance as we live on mission.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with CJ Bergman, Pastor of Citizens Church in San Francisco, about caring for and loving our friends in need around us. Having eyes, ears, and hearts for those around us is an essential ingredient to missional community life.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with CJ Bergman, pastor of Citizens Church in San Francisco, about the essential element of pursuing spiritual healing and wholeness as a community grows up in Christ and lives on mission.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Ben Connelly about the importance of committing to the process of becoming a missional community and a devotion to Christ and one another.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Ben Connelly about the importance of rooting disciples in their identity in Christ as a community seeks to become a missional community.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson begins a new series talking with experienced leaders and practitioners from around the world about what is essential to missional community? This week, Brad Watson is talking with Ben Connelly about the importance of the gospel.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Duke Revard about building teams, recruiting leaders, and creating a culture based on the gospel instead of guilt, shame, and fear. They also discuss the NBA finals and LeBron James.
Resources discussed in this episode:
Video: How to Build and Manage Teams with Vinod Khosla Article: Gene Pool Engineering for Entrepreneurs Article: The Art, Science and Labor of Recruiting Article: How to Hire by Sam Altman Book: The Soul of Shame by Curt Thompson
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Justin Bindel of Ekklesia Salt Lake City about the challenges and opportunities of leading big missional communities and communities in different contexts.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Mirela Watson about their experience with grief, and how missional communities can love one another through loss.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad and Jared talk with Tim Mackie of The Bible Project, about the power, importance, and difficulty of engaging the Bible in community. Make sure you check out The Bible Projects video: The Public Reading of Scripture and Saturate's resource Story of God.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Abe Mysenberg teaches on the what this sub-structure of Missional Community life is all about and how to lead DNA Groups.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Ben Connelly, director of Church Planting for Soma, about how every church and missional community, regardless of size, can participate in planting churches. Learn more about Soma Church Planting at www.somasending.com
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and Jared Pickney dismiss five common myths about missional communities that often lead us astray, distract us, or keep us from pursuing life in community and on mission.
Additional Resources:
Missional Community Misconceptions by Brad Watson The Phases of Missional Community by Jared Pickney
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and Jared Pickney dive into the powerful calling of Jesus to abide in him. Sharing personal stories, insights, and practical wisdom; this episode will equip everyday disciples and leaders to abide in Christ.
Additional resources from this episode:
Enneagram Spiritual Formation Guide Sabbath Rest Exercise Solitude and Silence Exercise
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and David Achata talk about the the powerful tool of coaching for leaders and churches. Then, they dive into a real scenario as David coaches Brad as he would any leader. For more informtion on Saturate's coaching: https://saturatetheworld.com/coaching.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Jared Pickney about how to lead a missional community that has people with varying levels of belief, maturity, and buy-in.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Jared Pickney about the vision behind sharing leadership and how to practically share roles and responsibilities in a missional community. Check out this free resource: Missional Community Teamwork.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Duke Revard, the director of the Soma Family of Churches, about the implications and importance of developing leaders at every level and why we struggle to do that in our churches. Related article: How Do You Train Leaders.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Tim Parlier, Saturate's student specialist, about how high school students grow in the gospel through relationships and how parents are the primary disciple-makers of students.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Saturate team member, Sunee Hillyer, about why Lent can be a powerful season in the life of a missional community. Join Bran and Sunee
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Jeff and Ali Lowndes who have led and multiplied missional communities in Los Angeles ...
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson brings you part two of the live gospel fluency training by Jeff Vanderstelt. This training helps disciples learn how to point people to Jesus through their relationships and conversations.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson shares the audio of Jeff Vanderstelt teaching on Gospel Fluency at an event in Los Angeles, California.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Jeff Vanderstelt about 2017 and what God is doing in and through Saturate. They share stories, lessons learned, and prayers for the future.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and Jared Pickney walk through the nuts and bolts of multiplying communities, answering: why, when, who, and how.
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks about the challenges and opportunities missional communities face during Christmas...
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and Jared Pickney talk about the often overlooked questions...
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with Nathan Cedarland about how churches on the Washington coast are collaborating...
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson talks with writer and Saturate Podcast editor Ben Fort about serving artists, comedy, and creating within the framework of creation, fall, and redemption.
In this episode of The Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and Jared Pickney discuss seven reasons missional communities lose momentum...
In this episode of The Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and Jared Pickney discuss how the gospel motivates them for living a life in community and on mission. They also discuss ways to remind ourselves of the gospel daily and pitfalls of finding their motivation, identity, and mission outside the gospel.
Many of you have been telling us for a while how much you would love to have access to the audio of our training videos. You asked, and we listened.
In this episode of The Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson hosts special guest Daniel Im to discuss his new book: No Silver Bullets. Their conversation dives into the research and concepts driving his book and how leadership is more about micro shifts and intentionality than new modules.
In this episode of The Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and Jared Pickney dive into the challenges of choosing a common mission. But they also offer the hope of stories, key principles, and essential components to actually share mission. See these related resources to go deeper: Common Mission Cheat Sheet and How Do You Choose a Common Mission.
In this episode of The Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and Jared Pickney discuss the role of leadership, how you know if you're called to be a leader, what a leader does, and why the idea of leadership is so challenging in our culture. Related resources to go deeper: Leadership Cheat Sheet, Leadership Assessment, and the Leadership Development Plan.
In this Episode of The Saturate Podcast, Jeff Vanderstelt joins Brad Watson to discuss how our life with God shapes us as disciples...
In this episode of the Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson is joined by Saturate co-founder and visionary leader, Jeff Vanderstelt to talk about his passion for the mission of Saturate. The also talk about what they see God doing in the Church today and what excites Jeff about the future in North America and beyond.
In this episode of The Saturate Podcast, Jeff Vanderstelt is joined by a panel of pastors, planters, and missional community leaders...
On this episode of The Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and David Achata share the purpose and power of prayerfully planning within a disciple's life. This skill can be learned as we increasingly learn to submit to the Spirit of God. David shares his story of learning to prayerfully plan and three steps we can all use as we plan our lives for good works. We also mention several resources to help you plan annually, monthly, and weekly.
How can we encourage and equip our people to have more frequent and deeper gospel conversations in the everyday rhythms of life? In this episode of The Saturate Podcast, Todd Morr joins Brad to share a few of the key practices: praying for motivation and love, praying for specific opportunities and help, asking good questions, sharing our story, and proclaiming Jesus.
In this episode of The Saturate Podcast, Jeff Vanderstelt talks about the necessary elements for forming and leading a missional community.
In this episode of The Saturate Podcast, Brad and Jared welcome Adam Breckenridge to the podcast as they discuss the Enneagram, a tool to understand our personality and how we relate to God and others. They also chat about how they've used the Enneagram in their discipleship and communities.
In this episode of The Saturate Podcast, Brad and Jared discuss the nearly overwhelming challenge of balancing life in a community and the busyness of life and family. How do you give each thing the proper time, energy, and focus?
In this episode of The Saturate Podcast, Mirela Watson talks with writer, speaker, and musical artist Jackie Hill Perry about gospel fluency, her call as an artist, and more.
In this episode of The Saturate Podcast, Brad talks with Todd Morr (Director of International Partnerships with Saturate) about the smallest and often forgotten aspect of missional community life: the individual person.
Also, check out our new resource by Todd: Questions to Help a Disciple Grow.
On this week's episode of The Saturate Podcast, David Achata and Brad Watson talk with Dan Bovenmyer and Ryan Latour about how Saturate coaching cohorts have impacted their lives, teams, and churches.
On this week's episode of The Saturate Podcast, David Achata joins Brad to discuss the role of coaching: what it is, what it is not, and its role in creating healthy and effective missional communities.
In this episode of The Saturate Podcast, Brad and Jared are joined by pastor and author Ben Connelly to discuss how we can develop leaders in our churches and missional communities.
In this episode of The Saturate Podcast, Jeff Vanderstelt and Justin Anderson discuss the meaning of gospel fluency and how to speak the truths of Jesus into the everyday stuff of life.
In this next episode of The Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and Jared Pickney discuss causes of missional burnout and ways that we can rest.
In this episode of The Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and Jared Pickney discuss HOW and WHEN do you multiply missional communities? Brad and Jared discuss the things you need in place, as well as practical tips for multiplying well.
In this first episode of The Saturate Podcast, Brad Watson and Jared Pickney discuss common objections and difficulties people have with missional communities.