5 Things to Help Make the Holidays Brighter

We are a little over a week away from Thanksgiving…one of my all-time favorite holidays…because let’s face it…I LOVE FOOD!

But, over the years I’ve observed interactions between families–not just my own – I love my family!…but also from other families–and it is interesting to see how holidays, such as Thanksgiving, that should be bringing people together and filling homes and hearts with joy and fellowship…can be one of the biggest stresses on relationships in the existence of the world.

Episode 005 – Sticks and Stones

What do you Kanye West, Beth Moore, and John MacArthur have in common? They are all believers, and their recent actions have sparked a LOT of controversy in the Western Christian world over the last few weeks, and put a bright spotlight on a major issue facing the Church today…the ability to disagree with grace.

Intro Music: “Angry Dance” by Simon Panrucker
Outro Music: “Yours” by Brad Bates

Sticks and Stones – Disagreeing with Grace

You may not believe this, but I don’t agree with every Christian about every topic to come across the Church table. An even bigger shock is that every Christian doesn’t agree with me about every topic to come across the Church table. I mean they should…because I’m usually right…but that’s beside the point (totally joking!).

Election Day Woes

I used to be obsessed in a very unhealthy way with politics. It consumed my thoughts, my actions, my social media, my discussions, my arguments…it very literally consumed everything. I spent many years expressing my views about all things political, and it was exhausting. It’s Election Day 2019, and here are some of the thoughts running through my mind on the matter.

11.05.2019 Election Day Woes

Music: “Special Place” by Ketsa

Kanye, MacArthur, and Moore – Exposing the Division in the American Church

In case you’ve been living under a rock or out of the country for the last month, let me just tell you…it’s been a busy couple of weeks for the American Church.

11.01.19 – Kanye, MacArthur, and Moore

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks in Western Christianity as we saw the freak out over John MacArthur telling Beth Moore to go home and then a week later Kanye West dropping his gospel album “Jesus is King”. In the middle of the commotion an interesting thing was revealed about the state of the American Church…we don’t get along. In fact, we’re pretty divided along some unfortunate lines.

Music: “Special Place” by Ketsa

Episode 004 – Don’t Bite the Shepherd

The church is a two-sided coin. On one side you have church leaders, and on the other side you have church members. Both sides think they ARE the coin, when in reality they are but one side of the SAME coin. As a result, unity is missing from many of our local churches. Sure, pastors have been guilty of beating the sheep, but the sheep have been guilty of biting the shepherd as well. In this episode, the Angry Christian crew discusses the abuse of church leaders at the hands of the sheep. [Hebrews 13:17 and Ephesians 4] Be sure to check out the accompanying blog post [https://eagerfortruth.com/2019/10/21/dont-bite-the-shepherd/].

Intro Music: “Angry Dance” by Simon Panrucker
Outro Music: “Yours” by Brad Bates

Don’t Bite the Shepherd

On one side you have the pastors and church leaders (the shepherds), and on the other you have the church body (the sheep). For decades (if not centuries) there has always been a tension between these 2 sides of the coin, which results in church splits, hurt relationships, broken testimonies, people being turned away from and turned off of the church, and a whole lot more. Each side of the coin seems to think they ARE the coin not realizing that they are but one side of the same coin….that there is another side.

Episode 003 – Don’t Beat the Sheep

Being the leader in a church is hard work. Church folks can be some of the most frustrating and difficult folks to work with. But, despite their flaws (and our own) and the amount of stress and frustration we may face as church leaders, beating the sheep should never be an option. God doesn’t take kindly to it, and we put ourselves in great danger when we ignore this fact and abuse the sheep for personal gain. Unfortunately, it happens more often than we may realize as beating the sheep isn’t just a physical act. In this episode we introduce another host of the Angry Christian Podcast (Robert Platt) and explore how easy it is to fall into the angry trap as a church leader. [Ezekiel 34:1-11]

Credits:
Intro Music – “Angry Dance” by Simon Panrucker
Other Music as it appears – “Oh Yeah” by Yello, “Sweet Georgia Brown” by Ben Bernie, Maceo Pinkard and Kenneth Casey, “Would Jesus Wear a Rolex” by Ray Stevens, and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” by Fred Rogers