Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis

What is the biblical role of a church elder or pastor — and why should it matter to you, even if you never plan to be one? In this episode, a father-son pastoral duo break down the calling, qualifications, attitude, function, and motivation of a biblical elder, drawing from 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, and 1 Peter 5.

You'll learn:

✅ How a man is called to be an elder (subjective desire + objective qualifications)

✅ The biblical qualifications of an elder or pastor (1 Timothy 3 & Titus 1)

✅ Why elder plurality matters — and why no pastor should act like a CEO

✅ The right attitude of a shepherd: serving, not lording over the flock

✅ The core function of an elder: preaching, teaching, and equipping the church

✅ What motivates a faithful elder for the long haulWhether you're a pastor, an aspiring elder, or simply a church member wanting to understand biblical church leadership, this conversation will help you see why "the church cannot rise above its leadership."

📖 Scriptures referenced: 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9, 1 Peter 5:1-4, Acts 14:22-23, Acts 20:28, Ephesians 4:11, 2 Timothy 2:15, 2 Timothy 4:5

🎓 This episode is sponsored by The Master's University. To learn more about how you can invest in a college education devoted to Christ & Scripture, visit https://www.masters.edu

Subscribe for more conversations on church health, biblical leadership, and pastoral ministry.

Blockbuster had 9,000 stores and was worth $9 billion. Today, only one location remains. What happened — and what does it have to do with the church?

In this episode, Pastor Scott Ardavanis sits down with his son Jonny for a father-son conversation on what actually makes a church healthy. Is it true that churches need to "change with the times or die," like Blockbuster and Kodak failed to do? Or are there timeless, transcendent principles every healthy church must hold onto regardless of culture?

This episode is brought to you by our ministry partner Accountable2You. Join thousands living in freedom with nothing to hide, and visit https://accountable2you.com/dialin. Use our unique code DIALIN to get 25% off your first year of an Accountable2You Personal or Family Plan

Together they unpack 8 marks of a healthy church, including:

1. A High View of God

2. A High View of Scripture (expository preaching & sound doctrine)

3. Every Member Ministry (every believer serving, not just watching)

4. A Commitment to Holiness & Discipleship

5. Christ-Centered, Spirit-Filled Worship

6. A Devotion to Prayer

7. A Gospel-Centered Focus (local & global)

8. Qualified Biblical Leadership (elders & deacons)

Whether you're a pastor, church leader, or simply trying to find a healthy church home, this conversation will help you understand what to look for — and why the church doesn't need a new strategy so much as faithfulness to God's Word.

🔔 Subscribe for more conversations on the church, pastoral ministry, and biblical leadership.

📌 Part 2 coming soon: What is a biblical elder, and how do you know if your church has qualified leadership?

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro: Blockbuster, Netflix & the Church

04:47 Pillar 1: A High View of God

07:51 Pillar 2: A High View of Scripture & Preaching

13:16 Pillar 3: Every Member Ministry

15:19 Pillar 4: Holiness & Discipleship

18:51 Pillar 5: Christ-Centered Worship

23:24 Pillar 6: A Commitment to Prayer

25:13 Pillar 7: Gospel-Centered Focus (Local & Global)

27:57 Pillar 8: Qualified Biblical Leadership

29:16 Why This Matters for Every Believer

What does the Bible actually say about exercise, fitness, and taking care of your body?

In this conversation, a Desiring God pastor and author David Mathis unpacks a biblical theology of exercise — covering the six-layer biblical story of the human body (creation, the fall, the incarnation, the indwelling Holy Spirit, obedience, and future glorification), how to think about 1 Timothy 4:8 ("bodily training is of some value"), and why sedentary modern life and body-idolatry are two ditches to avoid.

This episode is brought to you by our ministry partner Accountable2You. Join thousands living in freedom with nothing to hide, and visit https://accountable2you.com/dialin. Use our unique code DIALIN to get 25% off your first year of an Accountable2You Personal or Family Plan

Topics covered:

• Why exercise matters for the mind, will, joy, and love of others

• Bodily discipline and Christian stewardship of the body

• The connection between physical exercise and mental clarity (John Ratey's "Spark")

• Competition, sports, and a Christian view of winning and losing

• Practical advice for sedentary Christians who want to start exercising

• How pastors and knowledge workers can build sustainable fitness habits

• A theology of the body: from creation to resurrection Great for anyone interested in Christian living, biblical theology, faith and fitness, health and wellness from a Christian worldview, or building sustainable exercise habits for the long term (a "ten-year plan," not a quick fix).

📖 Learn more and find the book at DesiringGod.org

In this episode, we walk through the most common rebuttals to the biblical view of homosexuality — not to win arguments, but to equip believers with Scripture and point people toward the truth in love.

This episode is sponsored by The Master's University. To learn more about how you can invest in a college education devoted to Christ & Scripture, visit https://www.masters.edu

We cover:

• Did Paul only condemn exploitative relationships — not committed gay couples?

• Was "homosexual" added to the Bible in 1946?

• Doesn't Jesus never mention homosexuality?

• Isn't God just a God of love — who accepts everyone as they are?

• What about the shellfish and mixed-fabric objections?

• Is same-sex attraction itself sinful, even if never acted on?

• What do you say to someone genuinely struggling with SSA?

This is part two of a two-part series. Part one lays the full biblical foundation from Genesis to 1 Corinthians.

📖 Key passages: Romans 1:24–27, 1 Corinthians 6:9–11, Matthew 19:4–6, Leviticus 18:22, Hebrews 4:15, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Isaiah 56:3–5

🔔 Subscribe and drop your questions in the comments — we read them all.

In this episode, we walk through what the Bible says about homosexuality from Genesis to Romans — not to condemn, but to teach truth with clarity and care.

This episode is brought to you by our ministry partner Accountable2You. Join thousands living in freedom with nothing to hide, and visit https://accountable2you.com/dialin. Use our unique code DIALIN to get 25% off your first year of an Accountable2You Personal or Family Plan

We cover:

• God's original design for marriage and sexuality (Genesis 1–2)

• The sin of Sodom and what it actually reveals (Genesis 19, Jude 7)

• The Levitical holiness code — Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13

• Deuteronomy on gender distinction

• Romans 1 and the "wrath of abandonment"

• 1 Corinthians 6:9–11 — the vice list AND the good news

• Is there hope for the homosexual? Absolutely.

This is part one of a two-part series. Part two addresses common rebuttals: shellfish objections, what type of homosexuality Paul condemned, and more.

📖 Key passages: Genesis 1–2, Genesis 19, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Deuteronomy 22:5, Romans 1:18–32, 1 Corinthians 6:9–11, 1 Timothy 1:8–15

🔔 Subscribe and leave your questions or rebuttals in the comments — we'll address them in the next episode.

What does the Bible actually say about dating? And why does the church barely talk about it?

This episode is sponsored by The Master's University. To learn more about how you can invest in a college education devoted to Christ & Scripture, visit https://www.masters.edu

We brought in Greg Gifford — biblical counselor, professor, and author — to give us a theology of dating that applies whether you're 22 or 45. This is one of the most practical and honest conversations we've had on the show.

Topics covered:

• Acquaintance → Friend → Best Friend: the 3 stages of a dating relationship

• How to communicate at each stage (and what oversharing too early costs you)

• How to define the relationship (DTR) without being weird about it

• Online dating: sin or Christian liberty?

• Evaluating spiritual maturity — and why it's not about reading John Calvin

• Why technology since 2007 has made relationships harder If you've ever felt like no one's giving you real, biblical guidance on dating — this episode is for you.

📍 Find Greg: The Force Institute Podcast

What is worship, really? Most people say "singing" — but Jesus has a very different answer.

This episode is brought to you by our ministry partner Accountable2You. Join thousands living in freedom with nothing to hide, and visit https://accountable2you.com/dialin. Use our unique code DIALIN to get 25% off your first year of an Accountable2You Personal or Family Plan

In John 4, Jesus sits down with the last person anyone expected: a Samaritan woman with a broken past. And in that conversation, he gives the clearest definition of worship in all of Scripture — in spirit and in truth.

Here's the problem: most churches pick a lane.

Some go all-in on the spiritual experience — the emotion, the atmosphere, the "encounter." Others go all-in on doctrine and truth — deep teaching, sound theology, the Word. And both camps look at the other and think they've got it figured out.

But Jesus says they're two sides of the same coin.Spirit without truth leads to hysteria. Truth without spirit leads to stoicism — more morgue than a meeting with the living God. Real, biblical worship refuses to separate the two.

In this episode we unpack:

✅ Why worship is far more than a song

✅ What "spirit" and "truth" actually mean — and why you need both

✅ How superficial teaching always produces superficial worship

✅ How the most rejected woman in the story became the first evangelist

✅ What God actually thinks about your worship

📖 John 4:16–42

In John 4, Jesus has the longest recorded conversation found anywhere in Scripture — and he has it with the most unlikely person imaginable: a Samaritan woman with a broken past.

In this episode, we unpack why Jesus went out of his way to find her, what "living water" really means, and why he lovingly confronted her sin before offering salvation.Whether you feel too good to need a Savior (like Nicodemus in John 3) or too far gone to deserve one — this passage is for you.

📖 Key Passages: John 4:1–26 | Jeremiah 2:13 | Isaiah 55:1 | John 7:37–38 | Revelation 21:6

🔑 In this episode:

• Who were the Samaritans — and why did Jews despise them?
• Why Jesus "had to" pass through Samaria
• What living water means and why your soul is thirsty
• Why Jesus confronts sin before offering grace
• How the cross is the only reason Jesus can quench your spiritual thirst

👉 This episode is sponsored by The Master's University. To learn more about how you can invest in a college education devoted to Christ & Scripture, visit https://www.masters.edu

Is mysticism creeping into your church? Are you unknowingly influenced by New Age or New Thought beliefs?

In this eye-opening conversation, Jonny Ardavanis sits down with apologist and author Melissa Dougherty to unpack the subtle but dangerous ideas infiltrating modern Christianity — from the Law of Attraction and Christ consciousness to Christian mysticism, universalism, and the teachings of Richard Rohr.

Melissa shares her personal story of being deeply involved in the church while unknowingly holding occultic, unbiblical beliefs — and what finally woke her up.

📖 Topics covered: — What is New Thought and how is it different from New Age? — Law of Attraction, manifestation & Christ consciousness explained — How Oprah, Joel Osteen & the Word of Faith movement connect to New Thought — The danger of Christian mysticism and chasing spiritual experiences — Richard Rohr, universalism & progressive Christianity — The Enneagram's roots in New Thought — How to discern truth from deception

📚 Get Melissa's book Happy Lies: https://a.co/d/0e2lMldd

📺 Melissa's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MelissaDougherty

What does it mean to abide in Christ — and why does Jesus say it's the key to everything in the Christian life?

This episode is sponsored by The Master's University. To learn more about how you can invest in a college education devoted to Christ & Scripture, visit https://www.masters.edu

In this episode, we open up John 15 and break down what abiding in Jesus actually looks like in practical, everyday terms. If you've ever felt like your Christian life was running on empty, or wondered why real joy and spiritual fruit seem out of reach, this conversation is for you.

We cover:

✔ What "abide in me" means (it's simpler than you think)

✔ Why union with Christ is the foundation of all spiritual growth

✔ How abiding in God's Word leads to abiding in His love

✔ The role of prayer in staying connected to Jesus

✔ What you're missing out on if you're not abiding — including the unshakeable joy Jesus promises

✔ The difference between being positionally in Christ vs. practically living it out Whether you're a new believer or a seasoned Christian, Jesus' command to abide in Him is the heartbeat of the Christian faith — not for pastors or super-evangelists, but for every follower of Christ.

📖 Key Passage: John 15:4–11

📚 Also referenced: Romans 8, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 3, John 17

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