Brian welcomes guest Dr. Tim Boswell into the Greenhouse to finish up our exploration of intimacy. As a means of forming us to be more like Jesus, what role does intimacy play, particularly as we struggle to form long-term communities for that purpose?

Tim and Brian dig deeper into the three popular "ideas" of a mature, intimate Christian introduced in Ep 52: the OP Christian, the Accurate Christian, and the Placid Christian. Does our vision of what a spiritually formed person looks like match up with biblical reality?

As we wrap up our exploration of intimacy as the fourth key element of formation, let’s take a look at a few of the ideas of what a mature, intimate disciple might look like: the OP Christian, the Accurate Christian, and the Placid Christian.

Is our unconscious idea of a vulnerable, wisely formed person healthy and helpful, or are we trapped in an idea that may lead us down a harmful road?

Is there really a difference between the unconscious ideas that govern us and our stated beliefs?

In this very personal episode, Brian asks Kyle to share parts of his own story that reveal what we all struggle with - a disconnect between our bedrock desires and ideas and the Christian beliefs we espouse. Making room in our lives to recognize these gaps, and making room in our hearts for communities to help us better integrate our ideas and beliefs is a foundational aspect of discipleship.

Then the guys explore how our unconscious ideas about vulnerability impact many of our Christian behaviors, including how we approach and read the Bible. Lots to explore in this densely-packed episode as we continue to dig into the fourth key element of formation - intimacy.

If our desires and our largely-unconscious ideas solidify in the bedrock of our hearts, how do these become formed to be more like the desires and ideas of Jesus? Is it simply a matter of knowing what our desires and ideas should be?

Drawing from themes explored throughout the podcast series so far, Brian digs into the differences between our belief system and our genuine ideas - and how they're often far more different than we'd like to admit. If we're courageous enough to uncover our core ideas, how then can they be transformed in our discipleship journey?

In what may be the deepest and most provocative episode so far, we explore just how vital healthy relational intimacy is to the shaping of our roots (hearts) and soil (ideas).

Back in the Greenhouse, Kyle and Brian dig into intimacy as a formative element in our journey to become more like our King. Why is it that the modern small group or community group effort often struggles between being "informative" and "formative?" How do we respond when our efforts to be transparent and intimate result in betrayal or abandonment? What role does intimacy play as we explore the difference between the "Christian image" and the reality of the brokenness of our own hearts?

Join Brian and Kyle as they explore the challenges and benefits of developing appropriate intimacy in communities, even as aspects of the church and culture are working against it.

Our fourth key element of spiritual formation is intimacy. Though every human longs for it, it remains elusive, particularly in Western culture and churches. A "loneliness epidemic" continues to plague the West, even though we have more time and opportunity to be in relationships.

We explore some surprising findings in neuroscience that suggest we may be looking at our relationships with God, ourselves, and others as separate connections, yet they aren’t so easily separated.

Kyle and Brian take a deeper dive into the three layers of The Discipleship Sandwich: Spiritual formation, the Gospel of the Kingdom, and Five-element communities. Along the way, they explore a key historical driver of Christian fatalism, the role of suffering in the growth of the Kingdom, and the challenge of prosperity in making disciples. And, somehow, they manage to throw in frogs, scorpions, and the platypus.

In this special bonus episode, we zoom back out to take another look at the Three Primary Problems, but from a different angle. Let’s picture discipleship as a sandwich! The meat and cheese is our spiritual formation, the top piece of bread is the Kingdom, and the bottom is our Five-Element Communities. In our current age, holistic formation in Jesus means feasting on the entire sandwich! And we’ll tackle one or two of the ideas that can make consuming our sandwich challenging in the west. Time to eat.

Brian and Kyle sit down in the Greenhouse and have a casual but earnest conversation about narcissism in the church. Pulling from their respective stories and Brian's study of narcissism, they explore some key questions.

1. Why did God permit them both to experience the impact of narcissists?

2. How difficult is to identify them and relate to them?

3. How might we love and embrace a narcissist?

4. How may we care for others harmed by narcissism?

5. How should an Immersive Community of Formation handle a narcissist?

Sit in and listen to a very personal dialogue filled with some hurt, confession, and hope.

As we finish off our exploration of the third element of formation, community, let’s talk about one of the greatest potential dangers to a healthy immersive community - narcissists.

Narcissism remains a persistent plague in the Western church, both in the congregation and in leadership. What is it? How can we recognize it? What can be done about it? If Jesus calls us to love our neighbor, and that includes the sociopathic narcissist, how might we do that?