We are back from summer vacation, and ready to dive back into things! Today, Dan and Austin talk about the ways we may find ourselves in the role of the Crowds that surround Jesus, instead of being the "main characters" that we often think of ourselves as. They also discuss the similarities of this story with the stories both preceding and following in Mark 5. 

Dan is on vacation this week, so we will be hearing instead from Skye Jethani- an author, pastor and commentator on themes we've discussed here in the Deeper podcast. Skye breaks down ways that we as Christians are tempted to take worldly tools to accomplish God's goals, how that's not biblical, and what our calling is instead. 

We will be back with new episodes of Deeper on August 6th! Enjoy your summer break, and we will see you next month!

As we roll into our summer series, Dan and Austin talk about what we do about inserting ourselves into God's plan- When do we act? When do we trust and obey? And how do we know if we've put our plans in the position God's plans should be? 

Our view on diversity is broken. The "Babel" mindset that we have as sinful humans is so persistent, but we are called to live with a more "Pentecost" perspective. Dan and Austin discuss diversity and how being made in the Image of God changes our attitude towards different people. 

The word "Blessing" is a fairly common one we hear in church circles. But what does it actually mean to be a blessing, or to receive one? 

Our society is one that is increasingly more individualistic and isolated, and lonliness is rampant in our society. How are we as believers supposed to combat that trend? 

We have hope that there will be a total renewal of our decaying world. But what does renewal look like, and how can we cling to that hope before it comes to be? 

While our modern society imagines the dead coming back to life as a very brutal, violent affair - which we see throughout our media in the Zombie context - our faith views the resurrection of the body to be entirely different. Our new lives are supposed to be life-giving, rather than life-taking. What does that mean for our advocacy or the people we dislike? 

We all are made to serve our community. From our local church to all of those made in the image of God, we've got a calling to be active and engaged in acts of service. But what if we aren't gifted to serve in the areas that we see immediately around us? Is there any difference between serving financally or with our time? And when do we say "no" to service? 

Because of Easter, and Christ's ressurection specifically, we are living in a new reality that totally upends the old ways of interacting with God, our neighbors and even ourselves. How do we live wisely in this new reality?