Too often, we read the words of Jesus saying that healing, sight, and freedom are being brought with the kingdom and take those to be metaphorical. While they most certainly have a spiritual element, they are also very much a literal and tangible reality.

As followers of the Jesus who brought restoration, we must find how we, too, must bring restoration and healing to our world.

Only in rare cases does a church embody the entirety of the 5-fold ministry. As Paul went to great lengths to explain, this must change if we are to be the full, unified expression of church that we are called to be.

God, since the very beginning, has called and sent men and women. If we are to become a vibrant, meaningful church, we must recapture this purpose and understand we, too, are sent to the world.

Source: Alan Hirsch

To be a Christian is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Too often, we make being a Christian easy; we tell one another that showing up to a Sunday service, singing some songs, and, perhaps dropping a few dollars in a plate is what it's about.

It's not.

Sources: Alan Hirsch, Rob Bell

Often, we make matters of faith more complex than they need be. The great movements of the church have been spurred on, in part, by a simple message: Jesus Is Lord.

Recapturing this simple message and allowing it to transform us from the inside out is fundamental to our efforts to participate in God's work to bring about the Kingdom here and now.

Many of us has inherited a version of the Gospel that is incomplete.

The 4 Spiritual Laws have been effective for conversion, but impotent when it come to making disciples. This is because the 4 Spiritual Laws are not The Gospel.

source material from N.T. Wright and Scot McKnight

We've all heard "the church isn't a building."

Peter would agree, but he has much more to say about it.

There are some pretty radical and off base claims about how and why this is happening. We need to have a real conversation about it.

Jesus comes to be baptized by John, Heaven and Earth are brought back into alignment, and God speaks.

Mark 1 9 11

Mark tells us of the ministry of John, which is not at all what was expected by the nation of Israel and its leaders. What he said and did was entirely subversive and laid the groundwork for the Christ who he said would follow him. In this episode, we're talking about the historical context and ramifications of what John said and did; as well as how we might understand his ministry as being applicable to our own context and situation.