Pastor Richard recently led a mission trip to Salt Lake City. 20 middle and high school students and 5 adults studied mormonism for six weeks prior to the trip. This preparation paid off as the students had conversations with roughly 200 people in total.
Today, Richard is joined by Carstyn, Zane, McCartney, and Dashton to tell stories of the trip.
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Learn more about MAVEN
Episode 024 | Equipping the Next Generation with Brett Kunkle. https://subspla.sh/xfcxyjb

Perhaps more than any other question that Christians need to thoughtfully engage is the question of sexuality. The culture is a loud voice in saying that your sexuality is equal to your identity, but it is not only culture that is fueling this discussion. Humans are created to be sexual beings, so our sexuality plays a key role in how we express our personality, how we make decisions, what we look like, etc. Because of the Fall, every aspect of humanity (including our sexuality) is broken.

One opportunity for the church is to care for those who have same-sex attractions. But how do we do that? Here today is Brady Cone. He runs a ministry called Calibrate Ministries where he speaks on sexuality, and also disciples people with issues related to identity and sexuality. We are excited to have him here to offer his experience and wisdom he has acquired along the way.

Links

Calibrate Ministries
https://calibrateministries.com

Can Christians believe in evolution? And how do we talk with our friends about the theory of evolution? In this episode, Pastor Richard and Bob discuss what they grew up believing, what Scripture says, and how to use evolution as an evangelistic tool to get to the heart of the Gospel.

This episode is a part of the Equip series: a series designed to give practical tips and knowledge to be an ambassador for Christ in tough conversations.

Resources:

Trinity Talks Episode 19: Science and Faith with Melissa Cane Travis - https://subspla.sh/r388tmn

Further research: Four Views on Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design - https://www.amazon.com/Creation-Evolution-Intelligent-Design-Counterpoints/dp/0310080975/ref=pd_bxgy_2/145-2203554-4600214?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0310080975&pd_rd_r=9be09f3a-ca6a-4b3c-9138-0deeecde58b9&pd_rd_w=CNLY4&pd_rd_wg=x5dgw&pf_rd_p=fd3ebcd0-c1a2-44cf-aba2-bbf4810b3732&pf_rd_r=P9SK1G39GJ66PV875FTZ&psc=1&refRID=P9SK1G39GJ66PV875FTZ

Last Sunday Pastor Richard preached on the Good Samaritan and how the principles of loving your neighbor and hospitality apply to our current cultural moment. This topic seems to have struck a chord with people. The social media team encouraged Richard to share more of his thoughts! In this episode, he offers a “behind the scenes” perspective on why he chose that topic and shares what didn’t make the sermon because it was left on the cutting room floor.

Sermon Link: https://subspla.sh/rj3wcmy

Alisa Childers (A-lee-sa) is a blogger and podcaster at Alisachilders.com where she discusses apologetics, theology, culture, and worship. She perhaps more than anyone else has been following the developments of Progressive Christianity and bringing it to a popular level discussion. Four years ago she wrote a blog called “5 Signs Your Church Might be Heading Toward Progressive Christianity” where she exposes some of the false beliefs of this movement.

For our purposes today, we will be reacting to this article to equip you to be watchful of this strand of so-called Christianity with your friends and family. I personally do not see Trinity in danger of adopting this ideology right now, but I am also not naïve enough to believe that we could never fall into it if we are not watchful. This is why Scripture repeatedly warns of false teachers as being “dressed up” to appear like regular old Christianity when in reality it is denying core doctrines and values of the historic faith.

Resources

Another Gospel - https://www.amazon.com/Another-Gospel-Christian-Progressive-Christianity/dp/1496441737/ref=sr_1_1?crid=332IFYOGB9J0X&dchild=1&keywords=another+gospel+alisa+childers&qid=1594318549&sprefix=another+gospel%2Caps%2C223&sr=8-1

Link to Article: https://www.alisachilders.com/blog/5-signs-your-church-might-be-heading-toward-progressive-christianity

My guest today is Dr. Louis Markos. He is a Professor of English and Scholar in Residence at Houston Baptist University. He is the author of nineteen published books and has also published 300 articles and reviews in such journals as Christianity Today and the Christian Research Journal. He specializes in topics such as C.S. Lewis, early Christianity, and pagan thought.

One of the strengths of evangelicalism is its insistence on the primacy of Scripture and leaving behind unbiblical traditions. The weakness, though, is we don’t think further back than the reformation. And for most people, we don’t read further back than 50 years.

So today, we will be discussing the value of reattaching ourselves to a thought and spiritual heritage, and what that would produce in the evangelical church.

Dr. Markos’s New Book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08VPVLVZC/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

Today I am joined by Bob Florell and Tammy Epp to discuss new research put out by Barna in partnership with Impact 360. Sean McDowell, a Christian apologist and one who focuses lots of energy on influencing the next generation, put out a summary of what he saw are seven key insights from the study. We will be reacting to and discussing those seven insights today while making applications to parenting and discipleship.

7 Key Insights

1. Positive Pessimists 2. Most Gen Zers feel bad about how much time they spend on smartphones 3. Dark/cynical humor 4. Spiritually curious 5. Moral relativism is now the majority opinion 6. Torn between groupthink and cancel culture 7. Lost trust in most institutions; look to older generations for advice and wisdom.

Links

Barna Gen Z Part 2: https://shop.barna.com/collections/gen-z?_ga=2.147320503.1464126081.1612363598-2021324192.1611344697
Sean McDowell Article: https://seanmcdowell.org/blog/7-new-insights-about-gen-z?fbclid=IwAR3GzxAjzxqYUWc7KBg7rzz0vkHFnLwzYx7NwPHpksj1RBT3OiU3OW2MSuo

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Because we live in a post-Christian culture, I believe the western church no longer has the luxury of spending its time debating on secondary, yet important, issues. Because while we debate the age of the earth, how Jesus will return, and the like, our core doctrines are being abandoned as outdated, toxic, or irrational.

Today we talk about one of the most central doctrines of the church — the atonement of Jesus.

Today we are joined by Eric Hoehn who recently accepted the call to come to Trinity Church as the Senior Pastor. He and his wife Caren moved to Holdrege in the middle of last week. Eric started a series yesterday on 1 Peter that you can watch on our website or on Facebook, where he talked about the common feeling Christians have as feeling like outsiders. Today we will focus our time on getting to know him and hearing his heart for why he obeyed the call to come to Trinity.