On this Love Is The Agenda weekend, Rick and Svea talk about our guest speaker, Dr. Walter Kim, and the message he had on living out the gospel.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• 00:00 Intro
• 02:49 CIM is taking the 2025 Thanksgiving week off. During December we're going to answer your questions on ANY topic. Send questions to [email protected].
• 04:07 Starting with one of Dr. Kim's questions: What am I saved for? What's the purpose of my life?
• 09:03 Live out the gospel in compelling ways.
• 11:58 The demonstration of the gospel makes the proclamation of the gospel compelling.
• 13:18 We don't always have to demonstrate and proclaim the gospel at exactly the same time. It's okay to do one at a time, but it's never okay to do only one of the two.
• 19:07 The message of the gospel. What is the gospel?
• 24:48 Thinking out loud about the gospel.
• 28:06 Living out the gospel: a couple of examples.

Rick and Svea close out the series on Acts of Leadership by looking at a powerful act of leadership: telling your story about your relationship with Jesus. No one knows your story better than you. No one will know your story unless you tell it.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• 00:00 Intro
• 02:28 This passage resonated with a lot of people. It helps to take the fear out of evangelism - just tell your story.
• 05:39 Paul's genius in how he told his story: bring light.
• 08:22 Paul begins telling his story by honoring those to whom he is speaking - even though those people were of questionable character. 1) recognize dignity and 2) express respect.
• 16:35 Honoring someone may require a high degree of self-control so you don't speak what first comes to mind about that person. 
• 17:43 Adopt an approach toward people that comes out of who we are becoming in Christ.
• 24:00 No one knows your story better than you. No one will know your story unless you tell it.
• 27:23 What was life like before Jesus? What initially drew me toward him? What has my life been like since Jesus?
• 29:32 We are responsible for what we contribute and we should take that seriously. We're not responsible for the result; God is.
• 33:34 Taking it from an individual level to a corporate level. The why behind some of Autumn Ridge's outreach practices.
• 42:50 Wrapping up the series on Acts of Leadership with this bow: telling your story is a powerful act of leadership that doesn't require the position of being a leader.

Rick and Svea spend much of the episode discussing Paul's warning to the church leaders in Ephesus as found in Acts 20:17-38: watch out for the wolves among you.

A warning from Rick about this episode: It may contain meandering conversation with points of lucidity in a forest of discontinuity and convoluted word salads, but it has been fun.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• 00:00 Intro
• 03:21 Serving is leading and leadership.
• 06:35 The genius of Scripture: the same passage allowed Rick to pivot the emphasis in response to immediate needs without bending it to fit the new topic. This message's focus: Be on guard - have the back of those whom you lead.
• 10:57 Wolves prowling around as a threat to the flock: Paul's admonition then and still true today.
• 12:02 Three ways to spot a wolf: 1) they try to raise your level of fear; 2) they try to lower your level of empathy; and 3) they try to distract you from being an ambassador for Jesus and his kingdom.
• 12:21 Looking at each wolf tactic: Watch out for those using fear as a manipulator.
• 17:07 Watch out for those downplaying empathy or even calling it a sin. 
• 25:33 Watch out for those trying to distract us from the primacy of Jesus.
• 29:14 How do you overcome the wolves? In every arena of your life, live as though Jesus were living your life: be with Jesus, become more like Jesus, and do as Jesus did. Who we are becoming is more important than what we do.
• 31:52 The big difference between a true representative of Jesus and a wolf: A true representative will say follow me as I follow Jesus. A wolf will try to get you to join their endeavor and impose aspects of Christianity on others so they can get more control.
• 34:31 The way of Jesus is always going to be different than any expression of the world's way.
• 35:17 Playing the movie forward.

This week the Acts of Leadership series takes us to Acts 15. Rick and Svea look at circumcision and the old covenant, the new covenant, and James' declaration in Acts 15:19, “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God."

Topics discussed in this episode:

• 00:00 Intro
• 02:41 We will always have to wrestle with issues that would seek to divide us.
• 05:00 Circumcision: the sign of the old covenant.
• 11:41 Baptism: the sign of the new covenant. Comparing circumcision with baptism.
• 13:52 The new covenant is superior to the old covenant. The old covenant started outwardly and hoped it would become inward. The new covenant starts inwardly and expresses itself outwardly.
• 20:25 If salvation is by faith alone, why did James add four "conditions" on the church in Acts 15?
• 24:07 James isn't adding conditions to faith in Jesus, he's showing other practices that, if practiced, will pull their hearts away from Jesus and toward other gods.
• 36:51 The thinking process of looking at Scripture in regard to temporary, cultural application vs permanent.
• 39:21 If Paul, Peter, and James were addressing the American Church what practices might they suggest that would be helpful in following Jesus?

This week Rick and Svea look at Acts 10 and the story of Cornelius.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• 00:00 Intro
• 06:11 Three questions about leadership: whom am I looking to for leadership, how am I leading myself, who looks to me for leadership.
• 07:31 Cornelius in Acts 10. He was a complex character, we're all complex characters.
• 10:12 We're never correct to reduce any person to one defining thing; it tends to bring out one of four bad responses. We're all multifaceted.
• 13:08 In this passage we get to see how God saw Cornelius.
• 15:52 A thought experiment.
• 20:12 Good isn't bad; good is good. It's just not good enough to close the gap between us and God.
• 23:16 The gap Cornelius had and his angelic visitors. God's methods are intentionally messy and inefficient.
• 28:14 In this chapter we've seen Cornelius as a leader of people, show self-leadership, and now he looks to Peter for leadership.
• 34:11 We need to trust Jesus enough to deconstruct our self-imposed rules so that he can rule. It's all about heart orientation.

Pastor Caleb Smith joins Rick and Svea to dig into the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• 00:00 Intro and Rick's Boundary Waters adventures.
• 03:50 Week three of Acts of Leadership: what jumped out of this week's passage?
• 07:43 Caleb's process in seeing discipleship in this passage.
• 14:16 Who you are is a greater contribution than what you do.
• 17:42 The Quadrants: unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, unconscious competence.
• 24:53 Jesus followers should be the most curious people around.
• 31:11 Applying to whom do we look for leadership, self leadership, and others looking to us for leadership in this passage.

Today Rick and Svea talk about the challenges to developing authentic deep community and provide some ideas for developing this community.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:48 This week's focus is on community and the requirement for leadership decisions to shepherd each other.
• 02:15 We live in a culture that is driven by individualism and isolation.
• 05:11 Authentic, biblical Christian community isn't easy; it requires bravery, intentional vulnerability, messiness, awkwardness, and sometimes pain.
• 09:01 A framework for community: intimates, kin, village, tribe.
• 11:53 Church gatherings at Autumn Ridge are a gathering of a tribe. Community can be experienced and enjoyed, but it is not developed in the tribe. It's developed in the up-close relationships.
• 13:06 Challenges to developing deep community.
• 18:37 The fear of rejection.
• 21:23 Ideas for developing community.
• 23:45 How fast can this happen? Is there a microwave setting for developing community?

In today's episode Rick and Svea open discussion on our new series - a survey of the book of Acts: Acts of Leadership.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• 00:00 Intro
• 02:22 Exciting news about Autumn Ridge and Practicing the Way.
• 05:18 Acts of Leadership message series: leadership is a destination of discipleship.
• 07:15 "I'm not really a natural leader" or, "I don't really want to be in a position of leadership."
• 08:13 Three questions about leadership.
• 13:33 The disciples question for Jesus and his unexpected answer. He's in the driver's seat; we're not.
• 20:43 The importance of community. We need to be in relationship with people who are not exactly like we are.
• 28:51 What does self-leadership look like when we thought we were following a course of action and expectations but God makes it clear the path is different than we thought?
• 33:33 Recap: The tension of loving God and doing as you please.

In today's episode Rick and Svea have a discussion about loving our enemies and hating our enemies.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• 00:00 Intro - A Sunday afternoon gone wrong.
• 04:05 An illustration from Rick's Sunday experience.
• 06:11 Two visions: Love your enemy or hate your enemy.
• 08:23 What does it look like to love your enemy?
• 09:55 Paying a price for loving our enemy is a testing point. Not engaging in hero worship when someone says they forgive their enemy.
• 14:42 The pressure to define "who is my brother" and "who is my enemy" devolves into who is human and who is subhuman and often taints our behaviors toward "others." It's not good for anybody.
• 18:24 Looking to history to examine crimes against humanity or a particular group of people always begins with using dehumanizing language.
• 19:07 Svea describes an incident she had from the previous week.
• 27:09 Jesus gave us a simple (not always easy) handhold: pray for your enemies.

We begin a new season of Church Is Messy on a very serious note: A response to the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• 00:00 Intro - welcome back after Rick's sabbatical.
• 01:46 A renewed sense of identity as a part of sabbatical.
• 08:05 The assassination of Charlie Kirk.
• 10:09 An email we received.
• 12:22 We're a church that values questions - from everybody.
• 14:40 Something Rick would do differently if he could.
• 15:36 Rick's intent in the weekend services.
• 16:40 At least three broad categories of people regarding Charlie Kirk among those who attend Autumn Ridge Church.
• 19:55 Sunday morning is not a time to say what can be said, it's a time to say what must be said. What must be said is we are grieving and we need to turn and look to Jesus.
• 26:04 "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." -Tertullian
• 30:16 The view that this is a wakeup call for Christians to rise up.
• 31:46 A question that hasn't been asked yet.
• 35:05 We owe it to ourselves to slow down and get really honest with ourselves about our demands, wants, and responses.
• 35:54 It's tragic that empathy has been downplayed, disparaged, and kicked to the curb. Too many Christians see empathy as a negative.
• 37:11 This is a time to engage in empathy. Empathy is necessary for understanding.
• 41:04 Who do I trust? Beware of false prophets.