Before You Quit

Is Church discipline an archaic, now irrelevant practice? I would sense most pastors would say no. It still matters today. In this podcast, with Pastor Hobie Wood, we talk about why church discipline matters, what the Bible says about it, when it should be carried out and why it’s so hard. What do you do when the person living in sin leaves the church before the process of discipline even begins? What about matters that take place outside the home, like marriage problems, domestic violence etc. What role should the church play? Can non-members be disciplined? How much do you communicate to the congregation? Pastor Hobie and I (two sinners longing for grace ourselves) dig deep into these issues and hope it will encourage you to seek for ways the gospel can restore broken relationships by bringing sinners to repentance.

Hobie is married to Hannah, and they have 3 children. He is a native of Tiger, Ga., a graduate of Clemson University (B.S.) and Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC (MDiv.). Prior to seminary and being called to be the pastor at Christ Presbyterian, Hobie and Hannah were on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. He’s a rabid Clemson fan, a cyclist, and a (very) novice fly-fisherman.

“Church discipline is the process of correcting sinful behavior among members of a local church body for the purpose of protecting the church, restoring the sinner to a right walk with God, and renewing fellowship among the church members. In some cases, church discipline can proceed all the way to excommunication, which is the formal removal of an individual from church membership and the informal separation from that individual.” GOT QUESTIONS

The post Podcast Ep.113: Church Discipline (Pastor Hobie Wood) appeared first on Before You Quit.

Al Mohler’s book, He is Not Silent, speaks of how Contemporary preaching suffers from:

– a loss of confidence in the power of the word 

– an infatuation with technology 

– embarrassment before the biblical text 

– an emptying of biblical content 

– an absence of the gospel 

My cohost, Dan Stegeman and I want to address these concerns by talking about the pastor and his preaching. Our longing is that pastors get back to solid expository preaching, and that preaching becomes central to the worship experience.

Check out Dan’s blogs on the Gospel Coalition’s website here.

The post Podcast Ep.112: The Pastor and His Preaching appeared first on Before You Quit.

COVID revealed a lot about us. The church was tested. Never before have we, the church, been forced to consider its response to mandates and rulings. Churches in some states faced little need to resist, while other states were severely tested. Out of this, many pastors and theologians have needed to establish a better theology on resistance for their allegiance to Jesus. Furthermore, our culture is becoming increasingly counter-church and antagonistic to followers of Jesus. What does the Bible say about how we are to obey the government particularly when it targets our gathering, our evangelism and in some cases insist that we accommodate the worlds’ language on gender-sexuality issues? I didn’t have to look far to find the right guy to talk about this. His name is Pastor Dan Samms. Dan has been a guest on numerous podcasts. Pastor Dan is deeply committed to doctrine who believes if the pastor is going to be passionate about anything, it needs to be about what he believes concerning the truths of God’s Word. Dan’s primary role is equipping the saints to make disciples.  He plants house churches and trains shepherds with Restoration House Church Network.  He also teaches theology for Liberty University and for Underground Seminary.  Dan is in love with his wife, Christy.  They have three kids, a few chickens, and an awesome dog named “Sam.”  Dan drinks good coffee, enjoys fine woodworking, and writes theology curriculum.  Christy is a licensed counselor.  She owns Hope Counseling and Consultation Services, LLC  and is an incredible mother who has a variety of hobbies .  Together, they raise their kids, lead the church, and enjoy God’s blessings and they do all that in Amherst, Oh. 

The post Podcast Ep.111: The Church and Civil Disobedience (Dan Samms) appeared first on Before You Quit.

Mitch Schultz knows what it is to wonder what to say to someone mourning the loss of a loved one. He also knows what it’s like to say something to a mourner and afterward want to kick yourself. If you’ve had either experience, he gets you. But more than that, he has endured loss and knows firsthand what it’s like to be the one grieving. Out of his experience he provides insight and suggestions that will help you avoid having to ask, Did I say the right thing? This book will help you minister wisely, compassionately, and effectively to those who grieve.

In this podcast, co-host Daniel Stegeman discusses his book, Did I Say The Right Thing, and what intentional ministry to those who grieve looks like.

Daniel Stegeman (DMin, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) serves as pastor of Pine Glen Alliance Church in Lewistown, Pennsylvania. He blogs at pastoral-theology.com and is the author of Help! I Want to Be a Loving Husband. Daniel and his wife, Stephane, have four children.

Daniel has also published a number of articles with the Gospel Coalition which you can find here.

To order DID I SAY THE RIGHT THING, click here.

The post Podcast Ep.110: Did I Say The Right Thing (Responding Well to Grief). appeared first on Before You Quit.

I grew up in Papua, Indonesia and attended a boarding school for most of my early years. My best friend during that time was Steve Richardson. We’ve connected only a few times in fifty years. (Yikes, that makes me sound really old.) Twenty Four years ago, Steve became the president of Pioneers. I asked him recently if he would do a podcast with me on the topic of leadership, particularly in running a mission organization. I am so glad I did. Not only did it give us a chance to catch up on lost years, but also because his insight into servant leadership was amazing. I can’t wait for you to hear what we talked about. So, grab some coffee, and lean your heart in to a great conversation.

Steve Richardson has served as president of Pioneers-USA since 1999. Pioneers mobilizes and supports 3,200 missionaries and marketplace professionals who impact 500 unreached people groups in 95 countries. 

Steve was raised in Indonesia, where his parents planted churches in a jungle tribe. He witnessed the impact of the gospel on their war-like society, a story documented in his father’s missionary classic, Peace Child. Steve and his wife, Arlene, also spent 11 years planting churches among an unreached people group in Southeast Asia. 

The Richardsons now live in Orlando, Florida and have been blessed with four daughters and 11 grandchildren.

Check out Steve’s book, Is The Commission Still Great here. Also check out Steve talking about the book. https://books.pioneers.org/myths/author-steve-richardson

The post Podcast Ep.109: Lessons on Leadership (Steve Richardson) appeared first on Before You Quit.

This generation, as have others, is profoundly affected by a secular world view. However more of its impact can also now be felt in the church. How often do we hear of someone we love, a son or daughter, who eventually walks away from their faith, and it all started when someone suggested that Adam might not be a historical figure after all. How do you respond to the seeming contradictions with what the Bible says and what science says? Did Noah’s flood really happen? What about Dinosaurs? The ice age? A conversation about all this goes far beyond slinging ideas and opinions at one another. It has spiritual significance. I am so grateful to have had this conversation over all this and more with teacher and scientist Chuck Bultman.

You can check out Chuck’s lectures here.

Chuck attended Christian schools all the way through high school and came out believing the Bible was completely correct.  Then at a Christian college he accepted the belief that God had used evolution to get everything we see.  After graduating from  Stanford University with a teaching degree, creation remained an issue for his science-friendly mind and he kept trying to reconcile evolution and the Bible.  After attending summer school at U of Colorado,  U of Washington, U of Wisconsin, Michigan Tech, and Grand Valley State U, (all of which assumed evolution in their teaching), he heard a presentation by ICR’s John Morris and AIG’s Ken Ham which brought his theistic evolution to extinction.  When they pointed out the implications of “no death before Adam” and a truly globe-covering flood, there was no room left for his theistic evolution compromise.

His next “thought” journey then became “how to explain all of the geology and biology that he had been taught”- but now within a creation model.  Many great family trips out west and to museums have resulted from this on-going quest.  Now, after 40 years of teaching high school sciences, he has retired from teaching in the public schools and looks forward to helping others resist the claims of evolutionary science by demonstrating that these claims are scientifically answerable from a biblical worldview.

The post Podcast Ep.108: Faith, The Gospel and Creation (Chuck Bultman) appeared first on Before You Quit.

Hundreds of church leaders today are ignorant of the power of the flesh in their lives. In our day the false teaching that people are not sinners by nature has returned to the church in force. This has had a profound impact on believers, blinding them to the flesh still resident within them and weakening them in their battle against the ongoing sin nature. Thus many fall short of the victory God intends His people to have. God intends us to have victory over the flesh—but we must first recognize the enemy lurking within us. May God give leaders of His church the wisdom and tenacity to confront what may be the greatest danger to biblical faith in our day: the flesh within us that is at war against us. On this podcast I talk to Dwight Smith about his book on this subject, Freedom from Bondage to the Flesh: Recognizing and Rejecting the Sin That Keeps us from Victory in Christ.

Dwight P Smith founded Saturation Church Planting International in 1996.  He currently works with a growing number of church leaders around the world to mobilize the church for God’s mission: to make the Gospel of Jesus Christ accessible to every man, woman and child in every nation through believers saturating their areas with a living Gospel witness.  Dwight’s firm conviction is that if the leadership in the church today will submit themselves back to a biblical theology of leadership we will see the whole body of Christ mobilized into His mission. Check out Dwights webpage here.

For more information about Saturation Church International go here.

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My good friend, Pastor Dan Stegeman had a good idea. “Mitch, I should interview you for my podcast.” I replied, “Great idea.” So we did it and here it is. It was rather emotional to tell my story, but Dan did such a great job with the questions and reflections that by the end we were both thankful not just for this opportunity but for this amazing Savior who has given me the honor to serve him these 61 years.

The post Podcast EP 106: My Story (Mitch A Schultz) appeared first on Before You Quit.

If you are parents, I am sure you value the role your parents have in helping raise godly children. If you are grandparents, you know the awesome privilege and responsibility you have with your grandchildren. How often have you heard stories of the godly impact grandparents had in the spiritual development of someone. I had the privilege to sit down with John and Leeba Curlin to talk about their own journey as grandparents, and their wonderful book titled; GRANDPARENTS ON MISSION; Inviting Our Grandchildren to Walk with God. John and Leeba are the parents of seven children, thirty-one grandchildren and four great grandchildren. They love spending their time now investing in their family.

Click on book to order.

The post Podcast Ep.105: Grandparents on Mission (John and Leeba Curlin) appeared first on Before You Quit.

Increasingly, our international workers are serving in the hardest places. Doing missions is hard. Those we send out face tremendous hardship. While their heart-song is to proclaim the gospel, the restrictions in those cultures makes it very difficult. We also call this, Creative Access countries. It takes tremendous creativity to reach Muslims for Christ. I speak to one such servant who shares his story of serving Jesus in a mid-east country. We also talk about how we need to understand the religion of Islam. My encouragement is that you become intentional and regular in your prayers for the Muslim world. I use an app from VOICE OF THE MARTYRS that offers a different country to pray for each day. You can look over that here.

For a previous podcast on working with Muslims go here.

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