Those Who Serve The Lord

Travis welcomes Tom Mercer to the show for their second conversation. Tom has been a pastor and leader for over 40 years. Travis & Tom continue discussing the Oikos principle. So many churches have bottlenecks that prevent them from doing what they say they are trying to do and that is reaching people. Getting people in the door to the church is one thing but introducing people to Jesus and helping them follow Jesus is something else altogether. Perhaps the reason why evangelism/discipleship is so messed up is that we are looking at the wrong examples today-we have become consumers getting people in the door, and have focused on the presentation and not the lifestyle that it is in the world. They discuss the 5 steps of the Oikos principle and how to apply them in our lives. It's a practical jam-packed conversation on how to go about winning our worlds. Learn more about Tom and get his book, Not My Church or 8 to 15, The World Is Smaller Than You Think.Sign up for the Apollos Watered newsletter.Help support the ministry of Apollos Watered and transform your world today!

Travis welcomes Tom Mercer to the show! Tom has been a pastor and leader for over 40 years serving most of that time at High Desert Church in Victorville, California. They discuss Nate Bargatze, Victorville, growing up in a pastor's home, and the Oikos principle. The Oikos Principle-a simple approach to rethink how we share and live out our faith. It's simple when we think about it. What's the number one factor is that God used to bring you to Him? Or maybe a better question is, who was the person who influenced you the most to become a believer? If statistics are right, then it is probably someone you knew well. What does that mean for us? Listen in and find out! Learn more about Tom and get his book, Not My Church or 8 to 15, The World Is Smaller Than You Think.Sign up for the Apollos Watered newsletter.Help support the ministry of Apollos Watered and transform your world today!

Travis & Nancy Pearcey (America's pre-eminent evangelical Protestant female intellectual) continue their discussion on embracing God's design for the body, defending the faith by drawing attention to inconsistencies in worldviews, stories of life change of those who have embraced God's design, the importance of language and much more. At the center of their discussion is Nancy's insightful and hope-filled book, "Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions About Life And Sexuality." Learn more about Nancy and get her book. Sign up for the Apollos Watered newsletter.Help support the ministry of Apollos Watered and transform your world today!

Travis welcomes Nancy Pearcey to the show! In this first part of their conversation, they discuss our view of the body and how it affects us: sexual identity, splits in reality, self, and the search for meaning, especially on how it revolves around our understanding of our bodies and the necessity of having a proper understanding of it. At the center of the conversation is Nancy's book, "Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions About Life And Sexuality." They cover a wide range of topics from Nancy's upbringing, her training as a classical violinist, her interactions at L'Abri, Francis Schaeffer, the arts, sexual identity, and a whole lot more! Learn more about Nancy and get her book. More episodes from Nancy:#79 | Love Thy Body, Pt. 2 | Nancy Pearcey#185 | The Toxic War on Masculinity, Pt. 1 | Nancy Pearcey#186 | The Toxic War on Masculinity, Pt. 2 | Nancy PearceyOther episodes dealing with LGBTQ+:#44 | Posh, Pleasures, & Pain: The Life of a Social Media Influencer Turned Christ, Pt. 1 | Sandra Poenar#45 | Posh, Pleasures, & Pain: The Life of a Social Media Influencer Turned Christ, Pt. 2 | Sandra Poenar#83 | What God Says About Our Bodies? | Sam Allberry#132 | Redemption & LGBTQ: Becoming A Man of God, Pt. 1 | John Hannigan#134 | Redemption & LGBTQ: Becoming A Man of God, Pt. 2 | John HanniganSign up for the Apollos Watered newsletter.Help support the ministry of Apollos Watered and transform your world today!

Travis welcomes Dr. Michael S. Heiser to AW! Not only is Mike a world-class scholar, but he enables us to see the naked Bible in its context—even the hard stuff that has left us scratching our heads saying, “What?” He pulls back the curtain on tough passages, often revealing connections we didn’t know were there. Not only that, Mike is not afraid of shedding biblical light on the unseen realm—a place most scholars fear to tread. While many academics are deathly afraid of addressing issues of the unseen realm because it is secretly seen as intellectual suicide for Western academics—Mike takes the challenge head-on—and he doesn’t just do it for academics, but he is committed to making it known to believers all over the world. His audience consists of those who are hungry to know what the Word really says—especially the hard stuff.Mike is insightful, acerbic, sardonic, and doesn't exactly fit the typical categories that people want to put him in, but the question is—is he right in what he is saying? And what does that mean for us? Listen in and find out!Check out the Naked Bible Podcast, learn more about Mike, and MIQLAT.Sign up for the Apollos Watered newsletter.Help support the ministry of Apollos Watered and transform your world today!Takeaways: The authors of the Bible possessed a worldview distinctly different from contemporary readers, which is crucial for accurate interpretation. It is imperative to engage with the original context of the biblical text rather than relying solely on modern theological constructs. The supernatural worldview prevalent in ancient cultures offers insights that are often overlooked in modern evangelical thought. Understanding the interconnectedness of Scripture through the lens of its ancient authors revitalizes the reading experience and enhances theological coherence.

Travis and Kevin discuss Acts 8:1-2 and Acts 9:1-2 and what it means to be a follower of the Way. Do we believe that we really need God because our physical needs are being met? What does it mean to be a Christ-follower in the world that you live in? In the United States, for example, the expression of our faith may look different depending upon where we live: in the uber spiritual LA area, and the atheistic northeast requires slightly different approaches. Travis and Kevin also discuss our need to be mere Christians-not celebrities, but simply faithful followers. They discuss the way we have veered off course from God's definition of success and developed a worldly one. They discuss how we can get back on course by rediscovering what "biblical success" really is. What does it mean to have success in your world? What is God calling you to be? What is God calling you to do? Listen in and find out! Sign up for the Apollos Watered newsletter.Help support the ministry of Apollos Watered and transform your world today!

Travis and James Choung discuss revival (in Word, deed, and power), the need and our pursuit of it, returning to our first love, truncated Gospel understandings, multi-ethnic church, the fading idea of relevance, and how our mindset should transition from ministering to the culture to ministering to the remnant. They discuss evangelism in a society that is increasingly post-Christian and who is equally if not more so trying to evangelize us, ministering to Gen Z, and how commitment is inversely related to meaning. James serves as Vice President of Strategy & Innovation — overseeing evangelism, discipleship, planting, growth, missions, multiethnic initiatives, and the Creative Labs — at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA. He is also infamous for doing a Jesse Jackson impersonation when he was in high school. You can learn more about him and his book, Longing for Revival.Sign up for the Apollos Watered newsletter.Help support the ministry of Apollos Watered and transform your world today!Takeaways: Commitment is inversely related to meaning; without commitment, one cannot find true significance in life. In a post-Christian society, the fear of better options hinders individuals from making commitments. Revivals often begin with small, dedicated groups who are willing to pray and seek God earnestly. To experience revival, one must first seek personal transformation and commitment to God. The church must focus on the remnant—those deeply committed believers—rather than merely seeking cultural relevance. Understanding revival requires a holistic view that includes both spiritual and social dimensions of faith.

Travis has a deep conversation with James Choung on our need and desire for revival. Revival has had a lot of misunderstandings grow up around it over the years. Choung and his writing mate, Ryan Pfeiffer, have sought to restore the concept of revival by defining it and providing a way forward on how we can position ourselves so that true revival can happen. Very few people are talking about true, biblical revival. Current conversations within contemporary Christianity are on deconstruction, social justice issues, vaccinations, masks, and the state of the church, but how many are talking about the need for revival? Very few. While the aforementioned subjects must be discussed, the only true hope for sustained change and reconciliation between people is a movement of the Spirit of God. Is revival even possible in our postmodern, technologically addicted, skepticism-filled world? Join Travis & James as they discuss our need for revival and how only God can truly make a sustained and lasting change. James serves as Vice President of Strategy & Innovation — overseeing evangelism, discipleship, planting, growth, missions, multiethnic initiatives, and the Creative Labs — at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA. You can learn more about him and his book, Longing for Revival.Sign up for the Apollos Watered newsletter.Help support the ministry of Apollos Watered and transform your world today!Takeaways: A genuine relationship with God necessitates two-way communication rather than a mere adherence to rules and principles. Revival, as discussed in the podcast, is characterized by a deep longing for God and a return to Holy Spirit-led transformation. The concept of revival should be redefined to encompass breakthroughs in word, deed, and power within the modern church context. Consecration is essential for creating space for God to work and facilitating a deeper connection with Him. The modern church often exhibits a complacency that stifles spiritual longing and prayer, leading to a need for revival. Through understanding our spiritual heritage and the importance of community, we can discern God's voice and foster a revival mindset.

What have we been up to? Not much. Just moving across states, finding and adjusting to new schools, missing church, dealing with biblical plagues, and getting covid :-)Despite the setbacks, we go back to Scripture and pick up our study of Acts. If you want to understand a person, you need to know where they have come from and if you understand where they come from, their story goes from black and white into 4K-it's that way with Saul who later becomes Paul. In many ways, he becomes the template of life change, but that is for next week. This week Travis constructs Paul's backstory, piecing together his early ministry of persecution, then takes our contemporary idea of what makes a good person and uses them to ask Paul that question, "Are you good?" Listen in as Paul makes his answer via the ancient Scriptures and turns our contemporary conversation of good people upside down. Sign up for the Apollos Watered newsletter.Help support the ministry of Apollos Watered and transform your world today!

Travis has a conversation with well-known scholar Philip Jenkins. Jenkins is an award-winning author and scholar. Travis & Philip discuss Dr. Jenkins's book, Fertility and Faith, and how secularization may affect the institutional practice of religion worldwide. Dr. Philip Jenkins has a doctorate from Cambridge in history, and taught at Penn State University and Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion. He is a well-known commentator on religion, past and present, having written about 30 books including The Next Christendom, The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South and God's Continent: Christianity, Islam and Europe's Religious Crisis, The Lost History of Christianity, Jesus Wars, just to name a few. He has published articles and op-ed pieces in several media outlets across the U.S. and Europe, including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, New Republic, Foreign Policy, First Things, and Christian Century. The Economist has called him “one of America's best scholars of religion.” He has been interviewed on several television and radio shows, including CNN documentaries and news specials covering a variety of topics, such as global Christianity, the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, as well as serial murder, and aspects of violent crime. Jenkins is much heard on talk radio, including multiple appearances on NPR's All Things Considered, and on various BBC and RTE programs. In North America, he has been a guest on widely syndicated radio programs such as NPR’s Fresh Air, as well as the nationally broadcast Canadian shows Tapestry and Ideas. His influence goes beyond North America to newspapers and radio stations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Brazil. Now, in the highlight of his life ;-), he is on Apollos Watered! Travis & Phil discuss tacos, sushi, the 80's movie Matewan, and the possible correlation between secularization, religious institutions, birth rates, and gender roles in society. It's not just a European thing, but a global thing. It's truly a deep and heady conversation that helps us wrestle with our world and our place in it. Takeaways: Fertility rates in the United States have declined to European levels, signaling a demographic shift. The relationship between secularism and declining birth rates is evident across various cultures. Understanding the trends in global fertility can provide insights into religious institutional health. The rapid decline of religious practices in Europe raises questions about the future of the American faith. As societies become more secular, the role of family structures and values is changing significantly. Immigration can introduce new religious communities, potentially reshaping the landscape of faith in the West. Get Fertility and Faith and be sure to check out many of Philip's other books.Sign up for the Apollos Watered newsletter.Help support the ministry of Apollos Watered and transform your world today!