How can we bring God into the conversation when people are taking about current events?  Professor Dr. Peter Kapsner joins Carmen to break down the week’s headlines and take calls from listeners.

We don’t need to speculate as former President Jimmy Carter and so many others have on what Jesus would say about gay marriage. He restated the language of Genesis on the topic. How marriage is a picture of an eternal truth that the Church is the bride of Christ is indeed a mystery to us. Mystery notwithstanding, we are called to bring our thoughts captive and into alignment with God’s Word.

Attorney, speaker and biblical counselor John Mauck talked about Jesus as Wonderful Counselor and how engaging with the legal establishment with a passion for justice glorifies God in this world. His book is called Jesus in the Courtroom. John also gave us counsel on how to encourage lawyers and use court dates to bear witness to the Gospel in people’s lives.

In the news:

* All 12 boys and their coach have been rescued from the cave in Thailand. This story is great fodder for worldview conversations. Learn more here.

* President Trump has nominated Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court. Many in the news are jumping to conclusions. It’s important to not prejudge, but to be fair and seek understanding. Let’s be in prayer for him and his family as they endure the confirmation process.

* Be mindful of Christians around the world facing persecution-Pastor Andrew Brunson’s trial is coming up on July 17. Find out how to pray here.

 

Philos Project fellow Mina Abdelmalak joined Carmen to help us learn more about the Coptic Church, the persecution they are facing and how to be an encouragement to them. During this World Cup season, check out new initiative #LetCoptsPlay aimed at bringing attention to discrimination that keeps Coptic Christians from a professional career in soccer.

Groups of Christians are stranded in Haiti due to airport closure and are being advised to stay indoors due to unrest in Haiti. We must ask the question, however, can we be stranded when we are where God has called us to be for a purpose on mission? This is a good opportunity to talk about short term missions, their purpose, and their preparation in the event that short term becomes long term. A good resource is the book When Helping Hurts by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett.

Arron Chambers, pastor, speaker and author of Eats with Sinners talked with us about the simplicity of using everyday opportunities to share the Gospel. Taking off the pressure for immediate results, being intentional with our time and breaking bread with others with a long view towards salvation all help to this end.

Democratic Socialism is in the spotlight right now due to the recent democratic primary victory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York. Why should Christians care? The economy is part of how we flourish as a country and Christians need to understand the different platforms so that we can intelligently engage in a way that makes much of God and His design for human flourishing.

What are the characteristics of postmodern capitalism, can it be redeemed, and why does it matter? These questions and more were discussed with Dr. Kenneth Barnes, Professor at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and author of Redeeming Capitalism.

After the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the signers were then bound by a commitment to this new democracy that had not been tried before. Still considered a great experiment by many, it is vital to consider in our now post-truth culture the meaning of the language of that founding document.

Our guest today was Caleb Kaltenbach, pastor and author of God of Tomorrow: How to Overcome the Fears of Today and Renew Your Hope for the Future. Caleb was raised by gay parents and then thrown out of the house when he became a Christian. He gave us a powerful reminder that being fully engaged today is the best preparation for tomorrow.

On this Independence Day we recognize that God created us to be free, even free to reject Him. In Jesus Christ we have the ultimate freedom from the penalty and power of sin both for eternity and in the context of our everyday lives. That freedom transcends physical imprisonment or enslavement. But millions are still living in bondage to sin and addiction.

Brandon O’Brien, author of Demanding Liberty: An Untold Story of American Religious Freedom, shares the story of Isaac Backus who advocated heavily for religious freedom in colonial America. He believed in freedom of conscience, to the point of civil disobedience. How might we take up the mantle and advocate for the true freedom of religious expression both in our own country and on behalf of others around the world?

We celebrate the positive trend of extreme poverty being reduced over time, while recognizing that there is still so much to do. In 1998, 30,000 children died of preventable causes among the impoverished, while today, the number is about 16,000. As extreme poverty slowly retreats, we need to understand it is concentrating in the most fragile and broken states in the world: Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Cogo and many more places.

Richard Stearns, the outgoing President of World Vision, talked about the great privilege it has been to walk with the poorest of the poor. He talked about a Gospel that has no holes in it – a Gospel that makes us revolutionaries amidst the places of greatest darkness in our world.

What is a Gospel worldview? Or a redemptive worldview? It is a view that is about conforming our thoughts into conformity with the mind of Christ, aligning our emotions and then putting our resources into action in advance of the Gospel in all times and in all ways.

Michelle Rahal, author of Straining Forward, shares the powerful and redemptive story of Minh Phuong Towner in the wake of the Vietnam War, including the transformative book writing process and the story’s impact on one local congregation.

Carmen calls Christians to adopt a missionary mindset today. Most people in conversations today are likely 3 generations away from the shadow of a person of faith. We cannot assume they know any of the well-known Bible stories or have any exposure to a redemptive line of thinking.

As we hear reports of the newsroom shooting at the Maryland Capital Gazette, it’s a good time to encourage and pray for journalists. Journalists are often broadly criticized, falsely accused and harrassed. First ammendment people should be pro-press people. Without them, our world would become very small and we wouldn’t know the things we do not know.

Brian Walsh, Executive Director of the Faith and Giving Coalition in Washington D.C., updated us on how the Tax Act is impacting nonprofit giving.

Joshua Straub, a  speaker who serves as Marriage and Family Strategist for LifeWay Christian Resources and leads Famous at Home and author of Safe House, joined us to communicate the importance of having an emotionally safe house in order to launch kids who live, love and serve well.