ReGeneration Podcast

In this episode, Jay and Isaac chat with Rick McKinley. Rick is the founder and lead pastor of Imago Dei Community and is the author of several books, including his latest Faith For This Moment. On this episode, we discuss the extremely polarized culture in which we live and the unique challenges this poses to followers of Jesus, who find themselves navigating the fine line between resisting, assimilating, and/or redeeming the brokenness of our world.

On this episode of Twitterology, Jay and Isaac chat with Liz Ditty and Chris Nye about the often-instagrammed image of an individual casually relaxing by the lakeside or up in the mountains or at the beach or in a favorite cafe, alone and isolated, declaring, “This is my church today.” But is it? Is this really church? Certainly, quieting down the noise of our lives, getting away to a quiet and beautiful place, to experience God on a personal level through not only the mind but the senses… these are good and wonderful things. But is this church? And if not, what are the dangers in declaring that this is church?

In this episode, Jay chats with John Ortberg. John serves as senior pastor at Menlo Church and frequently speaks at conferences around the world. He is the author of several books, including Who Is This Man?, Soul Keeping, All The Places To Go, and his latest Eternity Is Now In Session. On this episode we discuss the often misunderstood ideas of heaven and eternity. What, when, and where is it? What does the seemingly contradictory “now and not-yet” reality of heaven mean?

In this episode, Jay and Isaac chat with Zach Bolen, lead singer of the band Citizens. In recent years, Citizens has become a household name to many worship leaders, as numerous songs they’ve written have made their way into church gatherings throughout the country, including Made Alive, You Brought Me Back To Life, Oh God, Father You Are All We Need, just to name a few. Zach’s unique songwriting has been reshaping the way songwriters who write for the church are approaching their own music. In this conversation, we discuss Zach’s story, Citizens journey into and away from Mars Hill Church, and what he hopes the future of music in the church might be like.

In this episode, Jay and Isaac chat with Mary Jo Sharp. Mary Jo is the founder of Confident Christianity, an apologetics ministry helping people wrestle with some of the most pressing theological questions of our day. She is also assistant professor of apologetics at Houston Baptist University, as well as a prominent blogger, writer, and speaker. On this episode, we discuss the common cultural notion that the Jesus story is actually based on several pagan myths which some claim carry the same exact key components of the story - virgin births, twelve disciples, death and resurrection, etc. This idea was recently made popular by the Zeitgeist film. Mary Jo skillfully deconstructs these ideas and shows how the Jesus story is unique and historically valid.

In this episode, Jay and Isaac chat with Kurt Willems. Kurt is the founding lead pastor of Pangea Church in Seattle and writes for various print and online publications, including the Pangea Blog and Theology Curator. He also hosts the Paulcast and Rapture Drill podcasts. On this episode, we discuss the massive, common misunderstandings about the book of Revelation and how we’ve gotten to reading the book so wrongly over the years. We also discuss what a responsible reading of Revelation means for our understanding of the end of the world, where the human story is headed and the immense hope we have in Jesus Christ.

In this episode, Jay chats with Liz Ditty. Liz is a spiritual director, speaker, and author of the new book God’s Many Voices. In this conversation, Liz shares her fascinating story of growing up in a cult-like fundamentalist church, how that experience both broke her and led her on the path of discovering God in a deeper way. Ultimately, this led to Liz learning to hear God’s voice in the the highs and lows, extraordinary and ordinary, through the Scripture and prayer. This episode, and Liz’s book, is for anyone who wants to hear more of God in their life but struggle to do so.

The rise of social media has given way to a brand new way of engaging and embracing ideas. While this is often a helpful thing, it can also have some really negative effects. In particular, when it comes to the formation of our theological ideas, our understanding of who God is and what he's up to, and our perspective on the local church and her mission in the world, twitter and other social media platforms have created some harmful caricatures.

In this second episode of Twitterology, Jay and Isaac chat with Liz Ditty and Chris Nye about the very tweetable idea that when the Bible becomes difficult or confusing, we should simply "Just Read Jesus." Is this true? Is it enough to just read the direct words of Jesus in the Gospels? Are the "red letter words" of the Bible the only words that truly matter? What are we to make of the over sixty other books of the Bible that do not include the direct words of Jesus?

This is the start of an ongoing mini-series on the ReGeneration Podcast. Introducing... TWITTEROLOGY! These episodes will be uninhibited, raw conversations between Jay, Isaac, and respected voices within the ReGeneration community. 

The rise of social media has given way to a brand new way of engaging and embracing ideas. While this is often a helpful thing, it can also have some really negative effects. In particular, when it comes to the formation of our theological ideas, our understanding of who God is and what he's up to, and our perspective on the local church and her mission in the world, twitter and other social media platforms have created some harmful caricatures. 

In this first episode, Jay and Isaac explore the growing phenomenon of "de-conversion" and how so often misses the mark of what's really happening amongst followers of Jesus who continue to journey alongside the local church.

In this episode, Jay chats with Tara Beth Leach. Tara Beth serves as senior pastor of Pasadena First Church of the Nazarene (or, PazNaz as it’s affectionately known). She’s also a writer, speaker, theologian, and recently, the author of the book Emboldened: A Vision For Empowering Women In Ministry. In this episode, we discuss the challenges Tara Beth faced as a young woman working towards the most central levels of leadership within a local church, as well as those confusing Biblical passages about women keeping silent and not teaching men. The conversation eventually leads to an encouraging and inspiring call to all Christians, both men and women, to rethink and reshape their church-cultures, to invite and empower women to lead.