The Day After Sunday: Recent Episodes
New Covenant Church
What is a well-ordered worship service and why do we need it? Greg Wheatley, New Covenant Church's Director of Music, takes us back to Reformation Geneva for some answers.
The anticipation of Christmas by children is precious. Greg Wheatley reminds us that their eager waiting is a model for our own during Advent.
Did you know that God invites you to worship Him as His guest every Sunday? Greg Wheatley, director of worship at New Covenant Church, describes what this means, and why it's so important, in the latest edition of "The Day After Sunday" podcast.
It's natural to think there are many ways to worship God in our church services, but really there are only two. Greg Wheatley explains what they are in this edition of "The Day After Sunday" podcast.
The tentacles of today's culture war and political strife have entangled the church, which has shown herself to be a more than willing combatant. But which battles are really worth fighting, and how do we fight them? The answer may surprise you.
Winston Churchill once said, "We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us." The same is true of our words. Once we begin to use a word in a certain way, it shapes our very thinking on the subject. In this first of a series on worship, Greg Wheatley, music director of New Covenant Church in Naperville, shows us that Christians trapped in musical emotionalism too often ascribe to music a power that is reserved for the Spirit Himself.
In the latest edition of my podcast, The Day After Sunday, you'll see that idolatry wasn’t a problem only for pagans “way back when.” It remains a serious issue for us in the West—even Christians who claim God as their King. I think it’s safe to say that if we had lived back then, we would have been just as guilty as any pagan of this sin.
Here are nine reasons why.
How do Christians illustrate the life and hope of Christ amid pestilence and plague? The fourth-century church provides a vivid example.
The father of the prodigal son didn’t settle for an arid relationship based on restitution. Instead, in grace and mercy, he ran to meet his dirty, dusty, and defeated son, and he threw an elaborate welcome-home party. When we come to our senses and return home to God, we receive the same extravagant grace. Listen as Pastor Chris Castaldo shares the encouraging message, "When Your Sins Are Egregious."
Like Ezekiel, we step into the suffering of humanity with eyes wide open, but we don’t stop there. We believe that bones can live. Crazy as it sounds. Indeed, "foolish" according to the apostle Paul; yet, it's true. The most tentative and enfeebled Christian has the power to speak life into dead bones. Why? Because Jesus Christ swallowed up death.
In this inaugural podcast of 2020, we consider why the victory of Christ makes our most terrifying fears nothing more than a hollow threat.
There is one thing on which most Christians today agree–we need genuine gospel renewal. Faced with a rising tide of violence, moral perversity, and a growing sense of personal despair, we recognize our fundamental challenge is not political or social; it is spiritual. In view of these challenges, join us for this episode of The Day After Sunday where Chris Castaldo and Greg Wheatley discuss the constituent elements of a gospel legacy, looking specifically at the ministry of College Church in Wheaton, which continues to bear fruit among us.
Following the tragic deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, a new cultural conversation about suicide has begun, an important topic that is too often avoided. Join us for this episode of The Day After Sunday, where Greg and Chris address the subject.
It's been said, the most frightening piece of real estate on the face of the earth is the two square feet of space behind a pulpit where an indvidual proclaims the word of God. This is why Charles Spurgeon ascended to the Metropolitan Tabernacle pulpit quietly affirming: "I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Spirit...." Against this backdrop, Chris and Greg consider the vital importance of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives.
The word strikes fear into the human heart: "evangelism." And yet we find Jesus saying to his diciples in Acts 1, "You will be my witnesses...." It's not that we simply do witnessing, but from the center of our being we are called to emanate the light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Join Greg and Chris in this episode to learn what it requires to be a gospel witness in this current moment of history.
Paul the Apostle tells us in Ephesians 4:3 to diligently preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, a unity that does not come easily (hence the adverb "diligently), but one that is essential, so much in fact that it will enable the world to believe the Father has sent the Son (John 17:21). In this episode, Greg and Chris consider the nature of this ecumenical call, along with some of its challenges and opportunities.
The real world has little in common with Disney. Red in tooth and claw, Adam’s fallen race bites, grinds, and destroys. While the tedious demands of propriety don’t allow us to easily discuss the reality of evil, it needs explanation, and more importantly, it cries out for resolution. In this episode, Chris and Greg consider the haunting specter of evil against the backdrop of Gounod’s famous opera, Faust, and ultimately recognize Good Friday as the event in which the darkness of evil is once and for all illuminated.
Billy Graham is among the most significant Christian figures of the 20th century, having preached in person to more than 100 million people, and to many more via television, satellite, and film. In this episode, Chris and Greg consider why it's important for us to remember Graham's legacy.
Few stories inspire us like Les Misérables, Victor Hugo's magnificent portrait of anguish, grace, suffering, and redemption. In this episode, Greg and Chris explore several of its central characters and themes, recognizing how the coldest and most miserable of hearts can thaw when confronted by the warmth of divine love.
In this episode, Chris and Greg discuss the cruciform countours of the Christian life, one that is shaped by the Cross and of the Cross, a lifestyle of gospel-driven love that manifests itself in practical ways.
In a day of reflex consumerism, when ministries evaluate success by numerical growth, when participation in a local church is considered optional, and when worship often feels more like a commodified experience than divine encounter, Chris and Greg discuss challenges and opportunities facing the church.
“The world will never starve for want of wonders, only for want of wonder,” said G. K. Chesterton a century ago, a challenge that continues to assert itself. In the face of this challenge, how can we lift our eyes above the horizon and behold the wonders of the living God? Such is the question with which Greg and Chris wrestle in this very first episode of The Day After Sunday.