The Goodness of God

By Trey Comstock

Every week, Pastor Trey and Pastor Emily talk about Scripture and what it means to try and be the Church in the 21st Century.

Hosted on Acast. See

... more

Download on the App Store

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play

FAQs about The Goodness of God:

How many episodes does The Goodness of God have?

The podcast currently has 151 episodes available.

The Goodness of God episodes:

June 14, 2024 How to Restart a Church: Fresh Expressions - Now for Laity
Fresh Expressions, creating small, focused, creative, meaningful pockets of religious community beyond the church walls isn't meant to be one more thing on the pastor's schedule. It's not meant to be pastor led at all. Normal lay folks should be one the ones taking lead, and the pastor serves as trainer, permission giver, and recruiter. This has deep roots both in New Testament history and in Methodist history. We are all meant to go and make disciples - in our dog parks, in our tattoo parlors, in our coffee shops.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
27min
June 12, 2024 1 Samuel 8:4-11, 16-20
Even the good Biblical kings weren't great. The bad ones were truly terrible. In 1 Samuel 8, God and the prophet Samuel both know, deep down, that having a king won't go well. They warn the people. The people still want a king. God intended for it to just be God and the people - with little separation. The people wanted something else. So often, we do too. We appoint people to tell us what God wants. This can go well, but often, like all our friends named Ahaziah, it goes badly. We all need to directly seek God and hold one another accountable.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
43min
June 07, 2024 How to Restart a Church: Farms and Dungeons and Dragons
It's easy to get a clear image in your mind of what a church is. It's got a sanctuary, sound system, parking lot, classrooms, kitchen, kids area, youth area, and if you're really ambitious, more activity space. in those spaces, we do the churchy things: worship services, Bible Studies, small groups (or whatever cool rebranding that you've given them), meals, meetings. We build more boxes. We repeat the activities. Some glad morning, Christ returns. A growing movement of folks are asking the important questions, does church have to look like this, and do we have to keep doing the same things? In trying to answer that question, a pastor in Georgia is running a Christian themed Dungeons and Dragons group that building meaningful community, and a group in North Carolina are running a farm as a farm, as an intentional Christian community, and as a same place for various members of their community to feel at home.

"Game Church grows connections, shares Jesus"
https://www.sgaumc.org/advnewsdetail/game-church-grows-connections-shares-jesus-18348448

"With strawberries and goats, a ‘farmastery’ reaches out to its neighbors"
https://religionnews.com/2024/05/30/picking-strawberries-and-feeding-goats-a-farmastery-reaches-out-to-its-neighbors/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
37min
June 04, 2024 Mark 2:23-3:6
As humans, we like simplicity and black and white choices. Do this, and it's good. Don't do that because it's bad. We turn the faith into that too. God clearly says do this, and God clearly says don't do that. It doesn't actually work that way, but we sure want it to. In reality, Jesus lived the spirit behind the Law - love God and love neighbor, and when letter of the Law conflicted with its spirit, he chose love.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
44min
May 31, 2024 How to Restart a Church: Creative Church Reuse (A Cautionary Tale)
Churches, generally, have WAY more space than they need. We invested heavily in real estate for a hundred years, and for a lot of us, that investment didn't pay off. So what do we do with it all? Well, there are a lot of organizations literally dying for want of space, so if you invite in the right partner, tens of thousands of square feet can get re-deployed for the Kingdom. However, as with all relationships, you've got to love your new partner and stay in love with your new partner. Otherwise, it can all fall apart.

Near Chicago, a Lutheran church finds new life at the YMCA, by Bob Smietana
https://religionnews.com/2024/04/19/near-chicago-a-lutheran-church-finds-new-life-at-the-ymca/

The Mix at White Rock UMC
https://wrumc.org/the-mix

Spring Community Church
https://www.springcc.org/shsucharterschool

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
39min
May 28, 2024 John 3:1-17
Nicodemus gets given one of Christ's all time greatest lines, John 3:16. Modern Christians have adopted it as a go to verse for understanding and hope. God loves. God moved first on our behalf. It's not clear how far Nicodemus gets down his faith journey. He's certainly not Christ's enemy, but he's no outspoken defender either. It may be an unsatisfying ending for such a great line, but it is a realistic faith journey. We don't always get the clean resolutions that we seek.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
41min
May 24, 2024 How to Restart a Church: Campus Ministry and Gen Z (featuring Rev. Kyle Tremblay)
Campus ministry can no longer just be Youth Group 2,0. A lot of the folks arriving on college campus never went to Youth Group 1.0. We need new models, and one pastor doing just that is Rev. Kyle Tremblay of the Wesley Foundation at Lamar University. He joins Pastor Trey and Pastor Emily to talk about how to build a truly inclusive space, demonstrate love that invites, and ministry with Gen Z.

Find out more about the Wesley Foundation at Lamar University and support its ministry:
https://www.thewesleyfoundation.com/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
44min
May 21, 2024 Acts 2:1-21
We seem like to act like we have two truly important holiday, Christmas and Easter, but in reality, we have a third: Pentecost. The decent of the Holy Spirit kicks off the era that we still in live, where the Holy Spirit moves among us, binds us together, and empowers us to do something. It's an amazing gift that we got that day - one that we continue to have. We should value it and us it accordingly.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
35min
May 17, 2024 How to Restart a Church: Faith Contributes to Human Flourishing
The Human Flourishing study follows 200,000 people across a couple of dozen countries, and they plan to do check in with the same people for years to come. As the name implies, the study wants to capture how people feel about their lives and what factors influence that feeling. This first run of the study found something interesting about religious life. Being a part of a religious community measurable improved the sense of flourishing in those studied. It's almost like living as God intended has a real impact on people lives.

Here is a link to the summary of the study:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/642680/global-study-aims-uncover-humans-flourish.aspx
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
27min
May 14, 2024 Acts 1:1-11
Christ's ascension changed the nature of God's work in the world. The Disciples could no longer observe what was happening. They had to shift to taking a much more active role. That's still the case. God sends us power, grace, and ability, but we have to do something with it. If you feeling like something is missing in your faith life, ask yourself, how are you putting that faith into action?
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
40min

FAQs about The Goodness of God:

How many episodes does The Goodness of God have?

The podcast currently has 151 episodes available.