During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology we’re going to explore an argument that broke out among Jewish believers and Gentile converts to Christianity in the First Century that threatened to split the early church like an overripe watermelon. This chapter of church history recorded in the book of Acts is formally called “The Jerusalem Debate” and the hugely significant spiritual truism came out of those ancient theological fisticuffs is still a foundational wall of orthodox Christianity today. Early church fathers described it as: solo fide, which in Latin means “faith alone.” In other words, the Old Testament guidelines that the Jewish believers in Acts were so fired up about getting non-Jewish Christian converts to abide by couldn’t save them then and it sure can’t save us now because no human being has the capacity to attain moral perfection. Mosaic Law underscores our need for a Messiah. Furthermore, our gratitude for God’s grace – not the attempt to justify it – has to be the motive behind Christian morality, otherwise good doctrine and good behavior will soon digress into smug moralism, self-righteousness, judgmentalism, and even worse. Today’s conversation about our on-going need to be “re-Gospeled” is bound to be lively and hopefully life-giving so please grab a cup of coffee and your Bible – unless you’re driving or wrapping banana leaves around a deceased pig for a backyard luau, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us! 
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Our Ongoing Need to Be ReGospeled

You're invited to hang out on Lisa Harper's back porch and enjoy conversations about all things Jesus, theological anthropology, biblical orthodoxy, Spanx, the merits of Tex-Mex and more! 

We believe this podcast will help you dive deeper into God's word, understand that the gospel is great news for everyday life, not just when viewed in the light of eternity, and that God is for us, that He's always been in the process of redeeming our inherent value as imago Dei and restoring us into a vibrant, intimate relationship with Him.

And rest assured, this won't be a one-sided conversation because, throughout the podcast, Lisa will be inviting friends, including some brilliant theologians and academics to join her in substantive but decidedly unstuffy segments.  So come on, y'all grab some coffee or sweet tea and join us on the back porch!

Religion & Spirituality

Other

Spirituality

Christianity

Buddhism

Hinduism

Judaism

Islam

Today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology took place very recently at The Kerygma Summit here in Franklin, TN and this particular conversation was kind of the “chips and queso” moment of the whole weekend for me because I had the undeserved privilege of sitting down with some of my favorite female Christian leaders from around the country and gleaning from their collective wisdom. I framed the question that I posed to all of them like this: At sixty I know much less about God than what I thought I knew about Him at forty and what I pretended to know about Him at twenty. But what I now know to be true of God – namely His unconditional love and immutable faithfulness – I know in the very marrow of my bones. Then I asked each of them – many of whom are leading large ministries – what they now know to be true of God in the marrow of their bones. Their answers were gut-level honest, deeply encouraging, appropriately convicting at times, and always God and others honoring. This conversation was a living example of Psalm 68:11 - the Lord announces the word, and the women who proclaim it are a mighty throng. Plus, since these saints came from various streams of the church, it was also a master class in unity and it reminded me of Jesus’s response to John’s question in Mark 9: “Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. Christian unity is not the same thing as uniformity, y’all. We don’t have to agree on every, single jot and tittle of what is theologically nuanced, but if we can agree on the fact that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way sinners like us can be reconciled with God, as well as the authority of God’s Word, we’re family. Remember the Bible also reveals that a divisive spirit is one of the six things that God hates (Proverbs 9) and whenever possible He calls us to be at peace and harmony with each other (Romans 12). Today’s conversation is going to be like spiritual Gorilla Glue, it’s going to fasten us tighter to our Creator Redeemer and tighter to the community of faith so please grab a cup of coffee or a glass of sparkling water with a wedge of lime or a thimbleful of wheatgrass juice and your Bible – unless you’re trimming your roses, of course; mine have sprouted out with more enthusiasm than Einstein’s eyebrows during the past few weeks of warm weather – and come hang out on the porch with us.
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A Wise Woman Once Said – Live from Kerygma ‘24

Today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology is a really special one and it’s especially rowdy too because it took place just a little over a week ago at The Kerygma Summit here in Franklin, TN where almost 1,500 women from across the country – as well as some other countries, I got to meet a lovely backporcher from Tanzania – gathered together to learn more about God and His Word. The teaching team at Kerygma this year was a veritable Who’s Who of Bible scholars, seminary professors and theologians including some of the engaging and enlightening friends we’ve previously connected with on the porch like Dr. Craig Keener and Dr. Scot McKnight. Brooke Ligertwood led worship all weekend, and y’all I can’t wrap words around what happened when she ushered us toward the throne room of Jesus on Friday night, except to say it felt almost transcendent. God’s Spirit revealed Himself to us in a way that left a redemptive mark on my heart, which I hope never fades. You know those moments in time when God effectively wipes the blurred glass that Apostle Paul says exists between us and Glory in a way that allows us to see Him more clearly? He made His presence so accessible this weekend, I’m still in kind of a discombobulated fog of wonder and gratitude. In retrospect, I should have taken off my shoes because it was just that holy. Well anyway, this conversation took place during the course of Kerygma, so I need to warn you that there’s a lot more ambient sound than usual because we were smack dab in the middle of a giant family of faith instead of a controlled studio environment. And I also want you to know that we delved into sensitive subject matter because I explained in detail about how God used a community of believers to save my life when I wasn’t sure I could keep living it. Which means some of the moments we’ll share today are too mature for little ears, therefore I encourage you to wait until after you’ve dropped the kids off at school to join us. That being said, please bring your Bible and a big cup of coffee – unless you’re up to your elbows in suds because that darling Doodle tangled with a skunk again - and come hang out on the porch with us!
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Embodied Theology – Live from Kerygma ‘24

During today’s episode of Back Porch Theology, we’re sitting down with an engaging joyful scholar - which may sound like a juxtaposition but shouldn’t be - Dr. Trevin Wax. Trevin’s an old friend who’s got a long list of accomplishments including serving as a missionary in Romania, after which he went on to serve as the vice president of research and resource development at the North American Mission Board. He’s taught courses at Wheaton College and Cedarville University and has lectured at the prestigious Oxford University in the UK. He’s also the founding editor of The Gospel Project, published the Christian Standard Bible – which is one of my favorite translations - and has written a nightstand full of books. But what I appreciate most about Trevin is that he embodies the fact that being serious about matters of faith doesn’t equate to being overly serious about oneself. As Christ followers, of course, we’re called to marinate in God’s Word like those ancient Berean Christians, but arrogance and academic elitism are not spiritual gifts! That being said, Dr. Wax is known for dropping wisdom bombs everywhere he goes, so you’ll probably want to bring a notebook or journal along with your Bible to the porch today, plus something yummy and caffeinated like a non-fat mocha with whipped cream – I’ve never used thrill and orthodoxy in the same sentence but when I order a non-fat mocha with whipped cream I feel like those two juxtaposed terms enhance each other to the point of making my coffee almost Keto! We’re going to have a great conversation today, y’all – thanks so much for choosing to hang out with us.
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The Thrill of Orthodoxy with Dr. Trevin Wax

During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology, we’re continuing our spiritual adventure with the always feisty and biblically faithful Australian, my dear friend Christine Caine. Chris and her husband Nick helped me navigate the arduous process of adopting Missy, so it didn’t surprise me when my daughter began to speak English that she proclaimed Chris to be her favorite Aunt! Mind you Missy’s got several favorite aunts and my actual sister Theresa is appropriately at the very top of her list, but I love the fact that the Caine family and Harper girls are so interwoven, Missy assumed she and Chris were related when she was little! And I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll feel like she’s part of your family of faith after hanging out with us on the porch today too, because spending time with Chris inevitably means feeling closer to Jesus, as well as being inspired to share the glorious good news of His unconditional love in the hopes of welcoming more image bearers into our stumbling toward grace community! I often paraphrase church father and theologian Lesslie Newbiggin who referred to the congregation as the most effective hermeneutic of the Gospel - in other words, we can see and understand who our Savior is and who He’s called us to be as His ambassadors more clearly through the lens of genuine relationship with other Christ followers. Remember 90-plus percent of the biblical imperatives – that is those instructions and parameters scattered throughout Scripture explaining how we should live as people who’ve been redeemed and perfectly loved by God – are set in the context of community. But before we dive into this Gospel elucidating, community-building conversation with Chris, I need to make a qualification. If you haven’t yet had the privilege of meeting this feisty Bible teacher, best-selling author, and global anti-human trafficking leader, not only does she have an Australian accent, she talks fast so listening to her is like drinking from a firehose! Therefore, you might want to grab a double expresso or an extra-large glass of something caffeinated and your Bible – oh and if you’re driving or on the Peloton, please pull over or hop off the bike for the next little while because trying to do anything thing else while listening to Chris is like trying to play Twister while ice skating – it’s just not a good idea. Please bring your undivided attention to the porch today because we’re about to have some church up in here, y’all!
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Don’t Look Back with Christine Caine, Part 2

Since we’re right around the corner from The Kerygma Summit ’24 where 1,500 ministry leaders and Bible-loving chicks from three different countries are gathering here in Franklin, TN for a 3-Day spiritual boot camp, I thought it’d be fitting to spend today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology with one of the most gifted Bible expositors and evangelists I’ve ever met, who just so happens to be one of my best friends, Christine Caine. And I can’t wait for y’all to lean into this episode because Chris is going to wrap historical context and practical theology around one single verse in the Gospel according to Luke that can have a resurrective kind of impact on our future. In Luke 17:32, Jesus spoke three interesting words: "Remember Lot's wife." We don’t know her name, history, or all the details of her story. All we know is that when she was fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah with her husband Lot and their two daughters, she intentionally disobeyed God’s clear command to not look back and was consequently zapped into a pillar of salt, making her the first Scary Spice several millennia before the girl band borrowed that moniker. Mrs. Lot is one of the more infamous women in biblical narrative and out of the 170 women referred to in Holy Writ, she's the only one Jesus told us to remember. If you’re feeling stuck this season – mired in all-too-familiar feelings of shame, discouragement, resentment, unforgiveness, apathy or just wishing the reality of your life bore more resemblance to the life of your dreams, I believe today’s conversation could be the catalyst Holy Spirit uses to lift you out of the spiritual doldrums and back into the hope-filled future God promises for all of us through the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah. So please grab a cup of your favorite beverage and your Bible – unless you’re weaving through a herd of anxious cows on a scooter of course – and come hang out on the porch with us.
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Our Ongoing Need to Be ReGospeled

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