A Deep Thought is a concise episode on a particular aspect of the Christian faith that we sprinkle in between full-length episodes. This deep thought is on Christmas.

In this episode Matt interviews Jared C. Wilson, who has been a pastor and church planter and now trains them at Midwestern Seminary. He’s also authored over 20 books including The Imperfect Disciple; Your Jesus Is Too Safe; and his personal favourite, Gospel Deeps. They focus primarily on a couple of his latest books, The Gospel-Driven Church and Gospel-Driven Ministry but before getting there they talk about topics ranging from doppelgängers to depression; from book publishers to feeling “called"; from leading with a limp to what being “Gospel-Driven” actually means.  ABOUT Jared Wilson is a former pastor and church planter whose now one of those guys with like 6 jobs. He serves at Midwestern Seminary as Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Author in Residence. He’s the General Editor of For The Church (and host of the FTC Podcast — they produce a ton of great resources for those in ministry). He’s the Director of The Pastoral Training Center at Liberty Baptist Church in Kansas City, MO. He also co-hosts The Art of Pastoring Podcast published by Christianity Today.

Matt gets Australian-born, NYC pastor and author Jon Tyson on the line to talk about a proven plan to raise sons of integrity, faith and consequence from his latest book, The Intentional Father. They also talk about what Jon refers to as the three key pillars of discipleship: Tangible Presence, Counter-Formation, and Sacrificial Mission; The three modes of communication (prophetic, pastoral, persuasion) and how the art of persuasion is the need of the hour; The difference between cultural apologetics and traditional apologetics; and how 2020-2021 has been America’s first truly secular crisis. ABOUT Jon Tyson is lead pastor and church planter of Church of the City New York in Manhattan, NYC. Originally from Adelaide, Australia, Jon moved to the United States over two decades ago with a passion to seek and cultivate renewal in the Western Church. He is the author of Beautiful Resistance; A Creative Minority; The Burden is Light  and his latest, The Intentional Father.

In this brief episode Matt explains how Christian marriage serves as a picture of the gospel.

The release of this episode coincides with National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Canada’s new statutory holiday on September 30. Matt sat down for interviews with Chief Andrew Victor and John Johnstone about their stories of faith, the 60’s Scoop, Residential Schools, the Indian Act, and how Christians and churches can be a part of meaningful truth and reconciliation.  Andrew Victor has been on council at Cheam First Nation for the past six years and Chief for the past two. He is also a pastor of Chilliwack Native Pentecostal Church. John Johnstone serves as Ambassador to First Peoples in Western Canada for Multiply.  RESOURCES TRC: Calls to Action 215: Brian Doerksen The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America (T. King) Indian Horse (a movie that follows the life of Native Canadian Saul Indian Horse as he survives residential school & life amongst the racism of the 70s) We Were Children (a 2012 Canadian documentary film about experiences of First Nations children in the Indian residential school system) 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality; Indigenous Relations: Insights, Tips & Suggestions to Make Reconciliation a Reality (B. Joseph) Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (J. McDiarmid) One Church Many Tribes: Following Jesus the Way God Made You; Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way (R. Twiss) The Indian Residential School Survivors Society’s crisis line is available 24 hours a day for anyone experiencing pain or distress. 1-800-721-0066

A Deep Thought is a concise episode on a particular aspect of the Christian faith that we sprinkle in between full-length episodes. This deep thought is on making sense of Old Testament Law. What do we do with all the Old Testament Laws? Isn’t it picking and choosing and inconsistent to continue to keep some to this day and then seemingly ignore others altogether? In this brief episode Matt describes the place of the Old Testament Law in the Christian life and supplies helpful rules for interpreting Old Testament Law.

Jorge Salazar spent 10 years planting a Church in Baja, Mexico, while training indigenous pastors and leaders throughout Latin America. He is now the Director for WorldServe Bible College which trains pastors in difficult access areas and persecuted countries of the world. This episode is about training pastors in hard places. ABOUT Jorge Salazar has his doctorate degree in Systematic Theology and is the Director for WorldServe Bible College which trains pastors and leaders of the church in difficult access areas and persecuted countries of the world. To support Jorge in his work training pastors in hard places go to worldserve.ca His wife Aimee is a Biblical Counselor, together they have three adult sons, and great accents.

In this episode Matt has a conversation with Rich Villodas, the Brooklyn-born lead pastor of New Life Fellowship in Queens. Rich gives Matt a lesson on all things New York, from sports teams to boroughs, where to get the best food, and how no one goes to Staten Island. Then they get into the subject matter of Rich’s CT Award-winning book, The Deeply Formed Life, on five transformative values to root us in the way of Jesus. ABOUT Rich Villodas is the Brooklyn-born lead pastor of New Life Fellowship  a large multiracial church with more than seventy-five countries represented in Elmhurst, Queens. Rich holds a Master of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary  He enjoys reading widely, preaching and writing on contemplative spirituality, justice-related matters, and the art of preaching. He's been married to Rosie since 2006 and they have two beautiful children, Karis and Nathan. His first book, The Deeply Formed Life  is now available wherever books are sold.

What better way to celebrate our 50th episode than to get the show’s very first contributor on for an opening segment: Emily Shantz. Matt and Emily talk about their favourite episodes and moments so far; Play a 'getting to know you' game they entitled “Seasons of Life”; Revisit some of Emily’s least-favourite Christian jargon: “Doing Life”, “Coming Alongside”, “Brother" and her latest, “Seasons”. Plus Matt gives Emily’s mom a call to get her honest opinion of the podcast in a new recurring segment every 50 episodes called “Lizzy’s 2 Cents”…and frankly it was more filtered than he expected. The half-century mark episode ends with Matt answering the following questions submitted by listeners of the show: Is a hotdog a sandwich? With marijuana legalized in Canada, can Christians use CBD oils without THC? Would you counsel a couple in an unhealthy relationship to stay married? My friend lost her husband and has felt the most insensitive comments have come from Christians. What is biblical, nitty gritty, messy and God-honouring grief? How should I approach conversing and living with family and friends from different religions and atheism? If God is only God while being Trinitarian, then when the Father rejected Jesus, did God exist? *No deep thinkers were harmed in the making of this episode of the podcast because no deep thinking happened in this episode *Special thanks to Jordan Esau for sound editing episodes 1-45 and Andy Boldt for episodes 45-50.

A Deep Thought is a concise episode on a particular aspect of the Christian faith that we sprinkle in between full-length episodes. This deep thought is on sharing Jesus with others.