Chuck Quinley

We've all been burned. Authority figures have failed morally. Things we bought rarely lived up to the sales pitch. It's easy to become jaded or even to keep our trust guarded. Jesus won't allow that. He challenges his followers to choose to believe and trust God and man. Listen to this episode recorded in Tokyo, Japan, to see why choosing the posture of believing is so important in a cynical age.Play Episode

Have you ever thought about the women who have poured benefit into your life? Many of the new freedoms enjoyed by women around the world today find their beginning in the liberation Christ established for women. In this Thread we witness how Jesus honored the traditional role of women with the quality of care it brings to others, then he went beyond those roles and elevated the status and roles of women in His Kingdom. Play Episode

I'm not sure it has ever really sunk in.  I have heard what Jesus has done for me on the cross all my life but I don't think I have ever really grasped how approved, forgiven, included and adopted I became on the cross as Jesus and I changed places that day.  It happened for you too.  Has it really freed you from approval seeking, etc.? Play Episode

How would people who know you best summarize your life's general pattern?  "Nice guy?"  "She mainly kept to herself?" "He was very friendly?" "He seemed a bit uptight most of the time?"  As they mocked Jesus on the cross, even his enemies jeered, "He saved others; himself he could not save."  Though they did not intend to, they actually validated his life with those words, "he saved others."  Christ was other-focused every day, taking the servant's role, even as a leader.Play Episode

The self sacrifice of God for mankind is the central event in human history. In the passion and on the cross, Jesus was broken and crushed by his relationship to his friends, family, religious leaders, national government, religious community and even in his relationship with God. He did all this to take our place and suffer fully the impact of sin on our lives so that we might exchange places with him and find wholeness in all these same areas. Join us in this week's Thread podcast to learn more about what Jesus did on your behalf as he faced the government of Rome in preparation for his sacrifice on the cross.Play Episode

DC talk has a song called "In the Light" with these lyrics:"Tell me what's going on inside of me I despise my own behavior. This only serves to confirm my suspicion. That I'm still a man in need of a savior"It's hard to handle the glaring sins of others, but even worse to realize the worst about ourselves when we fail miserably to live up to our own set standards of loyalty, honor and common decency.  This is a Thread about how to avoid moral collapse and how to deal with it once you have blown it in a major way.Don't give up!  Peter made it and so can we.Play Episode

Even something as pure in intention as the justice system can be used by the powerful to crush the innocent.  Lawsuits, public humiliation through well-timed arrests, the seizure of assets or even one's children--these have often been used by governments throughout the ages against the people of God. In the Soviet Union, Christian parents were deemed mentally unfit because they held to a belief in God.  Their beloved children were stripped away and placed in state orphanages unless their parents would recant.  God's people have often been persecuted in our own generation.  In fact, over 100,000 Christians a year lose their lives through persecution according to statistician David Barrett. What should a Christian do when faced with legal harassment? When the outcome is fixed even before the trial, where can you find strength and hope?Play Episode

Life is too short and our mission too important for short term relationships. We need friends. Real friends.  Life is meant to be lived in the community of trusted others, but what happens when those friends break your trust and let you down? Tune in to this episode of Thread and see how Jesus handled it.Play Episode

Does your Christianity have a rectangular or circular shape? Early disciples assumed their place in the circle of a small group community. Everyone interacted, knew and was known by the others. That's how it was for 300 years. Then came the church building...shaped in a rectangle. Stiff pews, face forward. Watch the show. Listen to the sermon. Money in the offering please. Let's go back to Jesus idea of what his radical agape love movement was all about. Maybe it can help us to bring some body life into our modern forms of church.  Play Episode

Ever wish you could do something for God to show your love and gratefulness but feel unqualified to find a place of service? In this Thread we get Christ's take on official religion versus just doing whatever you can with what you've got. We met a man on our last trip to Burma who is poor by anyone's standards, yet in a very beautiful way he has done an amazing act of service. He was visiting a village when a woman approached him to say, "I'm going to throw this baby away. Do you want it?" Though he was single he took the infant home with him and has raised him as his son. Just do what you can as Love tells you how to respond to circumstances that present themselves to you. You can see this truth lived out in this, our 50th Thread broadcast.Play Episode