Spirit Power & Grace

In Part II of our series on mission in Antigua, Guatemala, Andrew sits down with Shelli Pleasant. Shelli led the family mission team to Guatemala in June 2023, and she reflects back on the many years she has traveled to do work with the Escuela Integrada in Antigua. Shelli also shares a great deal on her relationship with the Holy Spirit: "The Holy Spirit is my guide, my life, my best friend ... I depend on the Spirit for guidance in everything I do."

In Part I of our series on mission in Antigua, Guatemala, Andrew sits down with his 12-year old daughter Alice Thompson. They talk about their recent mission trip to work with the Escuela Integrada, a school that services underprivileged children in the city of Antigua. Alice shares what it was like to go on her first mission and her first trip out of the United States. She offers advice to other kids who might be thinking about going on a mission trip.

How can God's grace make us more forgiving people? That was a question of great interest to John Wesley. In fact, he wrote to other people about the topic of forgiveness and considered it essential to what it meant to live a faithful life. For Wesley, being able to forgive others was dependent on knowing ourselves as forgiven by Christ Jesus. “Forgiveness is the beginning of redemption, as the resurrection is the completion of it," Wesley said at one point. It's always about the cross and the empty tomb---only with both of them in view can we understand the fullness of salvation. We can, indeed, learn to be more forgiving people. To do so, we must come more and more to know ourselves as forgiven and set free by the boundless grace of the Lord Jesus ... and thus to live a whole new life.

"We're being freed for obedience, for a new start ... freed for the opportunity to be in an ongoing relationship with the creator of the universe, the Lord God Almighty, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," Kevin Watson tells us. Andrew sits down with Kevin for a wide-ranging conversation on the nature of the Holy Spirit and what being open to the full power of God can mean in a believer's life. They also talk about the future of the Wesleyan tradition and the content of a deep, vital Wesleyan spirituality.

Dr. Kevin Watson is the Director of Academic Growth & Formation at Asbury Theological Seminary. He is a church historian who has written widely on the history of the early Methodist movement and the trajectory of the Wesleyan tradition.

"I'm not afraid to die now because of what I experienced," Kellye said. "I want to be in that place.” On this episode of Spirit Power & Grace, Steve and Kellye Smith share with Andrew their remarkable experience of being called to mission ... and finding the Holy Spirit in the process.

On this episode of Spirit Power & Grace, Matthew Johnson reflects on how the believer's life is meant to be shaped by prayer: through petition and intercession, and through healing prayer and praying in the Spirit. Prayer is the central act that causes us to abide with God, and God with us. As he shares with Andrew, the best advice for someone who wants to deepen his prayer life is simple: "Seek out people who are already praying, and pray with them." 

On this episode of Spirit Power & Grace, Andrew talks with David Watson about the work of mission and the rhythm of repentance & revival in the Christian church. “The re-evangelization of the West is going to be a movement that begins with prayer and repentance," David says. "And when we become prayerful and repentant, we are going to see God move in power in ways that are going to blow our minds.” 

Andrew sits down with Todd Lovell on this episode of Spirit Power & Grace to talk about the Bible. They discuss how to approach the study of Scripture, as well as how to preach and teach it---including the way in which the word of God is meant to transform our hearts and lives.

John Wesley was fascinated by the lives of holy women in the early Methodist revival. He often used the phrase, "a pattern to the flock" to describe women who served as witnesses of faithfulness to the people around them. On this episode, Andrew looks at the lives of two of those women and explores how John Wesley's description of them helps us understand the nature of grace and the work of the Holy Spirit.

On this episode, Andrew tells the story of the way the Methodist revival reached Newcastle in England. The work of the Spirit in the neighborhood of Sandgate ("the poorest and most contemptible part of the town") offers a witness for how evangelism can work in the 21st century church.