Connect with SLU:

Instagram

Register for SLU

Learn more about The LIFT Tour

Learn more about YPS

Connect with our Hosts

Brent's Instagram

Brent's Twitter

Jeff's Instagram

Jeff's Twitter

Student Leadership University’s mission is to develop and equip student leaders to think, dream, and lead. We strive to instill future tense thinking; character-driven decision making; ownership of biblical values; and a commitment to influence through service.

Connect with SLU:

Instagram

Register for SLU

Learn more about The LIFT Tour

Learn more about YPS

Connect with our Hosts

Brent's Instagram

Brent's Twitter

Jeff's Instagram

Jeff's Twitter

Student Leadership University’s mission is to develop and equip student leaders to think, dream, and lead. We strive to instill future tense thinking; character-driven decision making; ownership of biblical values; and a commitment to influence through service.

Connect with SLU:

Instagram

Register for SLU

Learn more about The LIFT Tour

Learn more about YPS

Connect with our Hosts

Brent's Instagram

Brent's Twitter

Jeff's Instagram

Jeff's Twitter

Student Leadership University’s mission is to develop and equip student leaders to think, dream, and lead. We strive to instill future tense thinking; character-driven decision making; ownership of biblical values; and a commitment to influence through service.

Register for LIFT Tour 2022Show Notes:

It's easy to forget God in the land of plenty.

It's not real faith if you can see the provision on the other side.

The great theme of the Christian life is that our life is never "as good as it gets."

Nostalgia is good, but it doesn't help you reimagine your future. It simply reminds you of your past.

Jeff's favorite topics:

It is possible to be loved.

Brent's favorite topics:

God wants us to trust him with what we love most in this world.

We can trust that God's story is going to be better than ours.

Connect with SLU:

Instagram

Register for SLU

Learn more about The LIFT Tour

Learn more about YPS

Connect with our Hosts

Brent's Instagram

Brent's Twitter

Jeff's Instagram

Jeff's Twitter

Student Leadership University’s mission is to develop and equip student leaders to think, dream, and lead. We strive to instill future tense thinking; character-driven decision making; ownership of biblical values; and a commitment to influence through service.

Show Notes:4 More Principles for disagreeing about tertiary issues:4. Acceptance and agreement are not the same things. I can and should lovingly accept someone without agreeing with their position on an issue.

It is a sin to abstain from the fellow believers you disagree with.

If we will remember, not how bad we are but how good God is in light of our rebellion and sinfulness, we're going to be really quick to accept our brothers and sisters we disagree with.

When consumerism is your approach to church the Body of Christ is harmed.

5. Discover points of agreement, and specify points of disagreement because clarity contributes to community, while ambiguity contributes to confusion.6. Adhere to the principles of critical thinking without lowering oneself to criticizing.

I don’t have to criticizes to think critically on issues.

We cannot digest ideas at the same speed we are given them. We must think critically about the world around us.

To think critically is to think deeply about the ideas around us.

Thinking critically about ideas is one of the greatest compliments we can give to others.

7. The end the goal of disagreement is to grow personally and together as followers of Jesus because the table of grace is big, and there is room for us all.Connect with SLU:

Instagram

Register for SLU

Learn more about The LIFT Tour

Learn more about YPS

Connect with our Hosts

Brent's Instagram

Brent's Twitter

Jeff's Instagram

Jeff's Twitter

Resources Mentioned in this episode

The Mission of God - Christopher J.H. Wright

Show Notes:

When we embrace a spirit of humility it allows us all to grow toward Christ.

3 Principles for disagreeing about tertiary issues:1. Choose love before choosing positions because we are a people that above all things put on love

We are commanded to put on love above all.
Choosing love is the not weaker position.
Choosing love is primary, opionions and "sides" are secondary.
Jesus chose us first, so we must choose love first.

2. Hear before being heard because our desired outcome should never be just to communicate our outline.

A relationship is more important than winning an argument.
Your opinion is nothing more than a speck of sand on the seashore.
James 1:19: “Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.”

We don’t weep with those who weep with disclaimers.

When you take the posture of listening it allows both parties to become learners. But when you take the posture of being heard, nobody learns.

3. Kingdom before opinion because we are all part of God’s kingdom first, and everything else takes a back seat.

We cannot view church like Amazon Prime. We cannot have a posture of consumption at church.

Connect with SLU:

Instagram

Register for SLU

Learn more about The LIFT Tour

Learn more about YPS

Connect with our Hosts

Brent's Instagram

Brent's Twitter

Jeff's Instagram

Jeff's Twitter

Student Leadership University’s mission is to develop and equip student leaders to think, dream, and lead. We strive to instill future tense thinking; character-driven decision making; ownership of biblical values; and a commitment to influence through service.

Show Notes:

Uniformity is not the goal of the Kingdom. The goal is unity within diversity.

To disagree well means to compassionately disagree in such a way that each party is adhering to the higher law of love, realizing at the end of the day, that God’s desired will on any subject is ultimately what matters.

The Foundation:

Christians must be able to agree on primary issues before there can be healthy
disagreement on secondary and tertiary issues.

The greatest apologetic Christians have is our togetherness within our disagreement not our uniformity of belief.

Disagreements falls into three categories:
Primary issues
Secondary issues
Tertiary issues

Primary issues are covered in the Apostles Creed.

The Apostles Creed affirms:

Belief in God the Father as Creator of all things.

Belief in Jesus as God's Son who died on the cross for humanity and bodily rose from the dead three days later.

Belief in the Holy Spirit who ministers to those who have been redeemed and are part of the church universal.

A few ideas that are secondary in Christian thought:
• Methods of how God created the universe
• Views on healing
• Gifts of the Holy Spirit
• Church government
• Modes of baptism
• Food and drink

These issues do not strike at the big idea of Christianity but they can lead to different tribes, movements, and denominations.

A few ideas that are tertiary in Christian thought:
• Timing of the return of Christ
• Styles of music
• Methods of preaching
• Church architecture
• Politics

These issues should not keep Christians from fellowship and healthy community; i.e. tertiary issues are those we can disagree about and still be members of the same church worshipping side by side.

For Deeper Insights into the topics from this episode check out some of these resources:
The Moody Handbook of Theology - Paul Enns
The Baker Compact Dictionary of Theological Terms - Gregg R. Allison
Growing in Christ - J.I. Packer
Bakers Dictionary of Theology - Everett F. Harrison, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, Carl F. H. Henry

Connect with SLU:

Instagram
Register for SLU
Learn more about The LIFT Tour
Learn more about YPS

Connect with our Hosts

Brent's Instagram
Brent's Twitter
Jeff's Instagram
Jeff's Twitter

New series on how to disagree well begins January 7! Brent and Jeff talk about what are things Christians should disagree about and the 7 principles for disagreeing well as a follower of Christ.

Student Leadership University’s mission is to develop and equip student leaders to think, dream, and lead. We strive to instill future tense thinking; character-driven decision making; ownership of biblical values; and a commitment to influence through service.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

The Wall Street Journal  

Show Notes:

News stories & Events:

Highlights:
• Continued racial unrest
• Anti-lockdown protests
• United States Capitol attack and its aftermath
• Global manufacturing and supplies chains disrupted beginning in March
• Border crossings continued to fluxgate
• Biden sets date for withdrawal from Afghanistan
• April 20 conviction of Derek Chauvin
• Increased tension with China to play out over the followings years.
• Texas Abortion Law which banned most abortions after 6-8 weeks of pregnancy
• College athletes can get compensation
• Cosby somehow got out of jail
• The Afghan government fell to the Taliban immediately following the U.S. withdrawal
• Cryptocurrency is now mainstream

Standout events

Jeff:
• The George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery cases
• Jeff's youngest son leaving for college and revisioning parenting
• Brent's new book

Brent:
• First-year Family Birthday celebration  

5 Questions to ask walking into 2022:

1) What does it mean to live your life set apart to God?

Pursuing holiness in 2022 will be responding to events that we don't know about right now. We must decide now.

2) What does it mean to be a citizen of Heaven who lives in America?

We must guard our witness in the current culture and not let it be diminished or dampened.

3) How do we steward, cultivate and maximize our influence for God’s glory?

We need to remember that everything we hold dear is temporary. God will redeem all things.

4) How should disciples pursue the mission of Jesus?

Salt cannot be mixed with other things or it loses its purpose.

5) How do Christ-followers live each day focusing on life’s ultimate purpose?

 

Connect with SLU:

Instagram
Register for SLU
Learn more about The LIFT Tour
Learn more about YPS  

Connect with our Hosts

Brent's Instagram
Brent's Twitter
Jeff's Instagram
Jeff's Twitter

Student Leadership University’s mission is to develop and equip student leaders to think, dream, and lead. We strive to instill future tense thinking; character-driven decision making; ownership of biblical values; and a commitment to influence through service.

Show Notes:

The Philosophy of Advent

"Advent" not only refers to the remembering of the first coming of Jesus but reminds us to be expectant toward the second coming of Jesus.

Advent is a time to pause and reflect on what has come and to reflect on what is coming.

Advent is God getting us out of our mess and bringing us home.

The more we reflect the more we are convinced of the hope that we have.

We can't focus on the problems, we need to focus on the promises of Jesus made real in Advent.

Advent season prepares us for a lifetime of looking forward to restoration.

Instead of being the end of the story, redemption is the beginning of a story that ends in the restoration of all things in the Heaven Country.

We live between two promises.

The Practice of Advent

There is no single "right way" to practice Advent. But Christians for millennia before us have handed down good practices to help us focus on remembering the Coming of Jesus.

Light different candles.
Praying for something specific.
Fasting from food or Abstaining from something.

If after Advent is done you desire the things of God and you long for Heaven more, you know you've done Advent right.

The practice of Advent is important but not primary. What is primary is being in the presence of God.

Connect with SLU:

Instagram
Register for SLU
Learn more about The LIFT Tour
Learn more about YPS

Connect with our Hosts

Brent's Instagram
Brent's Twitter
Jeff's Instagram
Jeff's Twitter