Today we talk about what has become a phenomenon - perhaps even an epidemic in the church world over the last decade or so. It seems like every week we hear about another prominent pastor or major ministry leader who is forced to resign over accusations of immoral or toxic behavior. Aggressive or abusive leadership - spiritual abuse - adulterous affairs or sexual abuse - financial impropriety. It seems to be running rampant and we wonder where it all ends! Where does this come from? What kind of cultural dynamic fosters this kind of behavior? Is it narcissism - media attention - or is the pressure of sustaining such a large platform simply too heavy to bear? Do we even need megachurches, book tours, and massive conferences? Join us as we do our best to diagnose and evaluate this depressing and destructive trend!

Now we get down to it! Today we're talking about the pew jumpers - the room runners - the tongue talkers - the holy rollers! It's the Pentecostals! Where did they come from, and why do they do what they do? And what's the difference between a Pentecostal and a Charismatic? Today we track through one of the greatest moves of God and expressions of faith in all of Church history! From the bubbling of ecstatic supernatural phenomena in the First Great Awakening to the Azusa Street Revival to the advent of the mega-churches to the faith healers - we cover it all - to the tune of 500 million Pentecostals worldwide! What happened - how did it happen - why - and how can we ride the wave? Join us as we move in the power and the presence of the Spirit!

Big news! REV-REB is now available on all the major podcast channels - including Apple and Amazon! Go check us out and leave us a rating and review! also - today we have a Guest Host! Pat is out for a few weeks, so our good friend Drew Mathis is holding down the right side of the table! He offers some incredible insight on today's topic - the HOLINESS movement. Originally birthed out of Methodism, these people take a hard right turn and get laser-focused on the idea of Entire Sanctification - or Christian Perfection - which means if you're saved and have the Holy Ghost - you will never sin again! Crazy? Maybe. Just ask the Free Methodists - Christian & Missionary Alliance - Church of God (Anderson) - and the Church of the Nazarene! They are the original denominations in the HOLINESS movement - still going strong today!

Today we're talking about the next wave in the Christian ecosystem - the Restoration Movement. While Baptists are Baptist-ing and Lutherans are Lutheran-ing, two groups of people in two different regions notice something alarming. The Church is drifting, they say! They care more about their creeds and confessions than they do about Scripture! These two highly evangelistic - back-to-the-Bible movements explode - then join - then participate in a giant revival that sweeps the nation - birthing new churches, denominations, and other movements! It gets crazy along the way though! How so? Join us as we look at the wild ride of the Church of Christ - Christian Church Disciples of Christ - the Christian Church Churches of Christ - you get the idea!

Today we look at the next wave of development in the Christian landscape as people read their Bibles for themselves - become more and more curious - and diverse strains of theology emerge. It begins with the Anabaptists, who are certain about their ideas of baptism. So certain - they're willing to die for it - and sometimes kill for it! They are truly revolutionary, and are seen by the rest of the world as unhinged, militaristic terrorists! While no Baptist would ever claim a straight line from the Anabaptist movement, it did spawn a way of thinking that altered the trajectory of the Church narrative. An independent - autonomous - congregationalist approach to Salvation, doing church, and living out the Christian life. Even though it brought with it some upheaval and division, it spread quickly and bore much fruit. These are some of the points of identification for Baptists today - and they're not stopping any time soon!

We continue our series on Christian denominations. In the last 2 episodes, we saw the rise of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation - then the three movements that arose out of it - Lutherans, Anglicans, and our friends the Reformed Tradition. Now we see new strains of theology arise as Christians begin to wrestle with controversial doctrines - new revelation - and diverse understandings of their newfound expressions of faith. Enter John Wesley - an Anglican priest - who wanted to see further reform in his own denomination. But mostly - after his dramatic conversion experience - deeply desired to preach the Gospel anywhere anyone would listen - even if it meant preaching on top of his father's tombstone! With the encouragement of his friend George Whitefield, John Wesley ushered in a worldwide phenomenon - an awakening - a revival! And - the 3rd largest denomination in the world - the Methodists!

In today's episode, we explore the Christian landscape as more and more people, churches, and countries move away from Catholicism and into the great unknown! Many follow Martin Luther, but as theological thinking begins to broaden, many pastors, thinkers, and scholars in regions beyond Germany - Switzerland - France - Belgium and others - start to expand and build upon the radical principles Luther introduced. The central figure of this movement we know as the Reformed Faith - or Reformed Tradition - is a mild-mannered man named John Calvin. He is a brilliant writer and his Institutes ignites a movement that spreads like wildfire, and thrives today! He wouldn't call it this - but we know it as Calvinism. Out of this movement sprang hundreds of denominations - all reformed - and so inspired a Scottish man - your new favorite theologian John Knox - he birthed what we know as one of the top three denominations in the world - the frozen chosen - Presbyterians!

There is ONE worldwide Christian Church - right? Our Bible says it - ONE Lord - ONE faith - ONE baptism - ONE God and Father of all! Jesus prayed for us - that they may be ONE! There should be ONE unified belief system that all Christians everywhere agree on - and live by - right? Not so much. There are certain core beliefs that Christians everywhere adhere to - but from there it gets crazy! Every time there is a disagreement about one nuance or another - a division occurs. This group separates and goes off in their own little corner and forms a - you guessed it - DENOMINATION! There are thousands! 42,000 Christian denominations in North America alone! How did we get here - and what are the contentious deal-breakers that cause us to disagree - divide - and separate? Today we begin a series on DENOMINATIONS. We start in this episode by going back to ancient Israel and tracking all the way through to the Protestant Reformation. It's an amazing journey - fraught with drama - deception - and downright treachery! Join us as we navigate through this labyrinth of DENOMINATIONS!

Today we tackle the big question head-on. Did Jesus - a legit historical person who lived in the 1st century - who was all the way dead - really physically rise from the dead? Is it all just myth - legend - conjecture - or did it actually happen? Because if it did - if Jesus really appeared to hundreds of people alive - it confronts us with some real-life issues we have to wrestle with - and reconcile! Join us as we work our way through the evidence - to the only logical, scientific, forensic, and historical conclusion. There is one - and only one possible explanation for what happened that weekend. HE IS RISEN - HE IS RISEN INDEED!