A blog by Adam W. Christman

A Blog by Adam Christman

  • Spiritual Disciplines: Intense Study

    “Many Christians remain in bondage to fears and anxieties simply because they do not avail themselves of the Discipline of study,” Richard Foster.1

    Do you remember what Jesus said will set us free? Was it good feelings? Maybe, ecstatic experiences? Could it be attending church services? John 8:32 has the answer, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (emphasis added).

    Our knowing the truth will set us free. This is one of Jesus’ promises to us. The truth will not swoop in like a superhero while we float on the wreckage of life. The truth sits at our elbow, ready and accessible at any moment. We need simply turn and look.

    Last week, I defined both the spiritual disciplines and, at the same time, any good faith attempt to follow Jesus well, with the statement “following Jesus in the overall style of life he chose for himself.” If you missed that post, you can click here for a broad introduction to this subject.

    Since we want to follow Jesus in the overall style of life he chose for himself, we want to look at the behaviors, etc., that we can discover in the eyewitness accounts known as the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

    Luke 2:52 is a famous passage relevant to this subject. It is simultaneously encouraging, enlightening, and confusing. In it, the Gospel writer reports that Jesus grew “in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” I want you to imagine a baby and how little they know. Imagine a toddler and how little they know. Imagine a grade school kid, a middle school kid, and a high school student, and how little they know. When God the Son put on flesh, he agreed to the whole experience.2 Jesus was at his conception, is currently, and always will be 100% God and 100% man. He accepted the reality of going through that long growing phase from baby in the womb through all of adolescence to adulthood. Jesus did not come out of the womb preaching the Gospel. He did not teach through parables before he was potty trained. It is not a sinful deficiency. It is a matter of biological capacity. He grew in wisdom. He really went through the plasticity and growth of the human brain just like the rest of us. And yet, when we get a glimpse of him at age 12, he knows the Scriptures so well he’s teaching teachers at the temple. And then when we see him as an adult in the bulk of the Gospel narratives, he knows the Scriptures at a mind-blowing level, both in breadth and in depth. How did he get from here to there? HE STUDIED.

    One spiritual discipline is the intense study and meditation on God’s Word and God’s ways.

    We study because he studied. We study hard because he studied hard. And we study because we want to know HIM better. Paul communicated the aim of the Christian life in Philippians 3:10, “My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death” (emphasis added). Big brother Paul wanted to know Christ, truly, and increasingly. We want the same, too. There is no one like Jesus Christ. No one more powerful or peaceful. No one more gracious or gentle. No one so honest or honorable. Nobody has suffered more than Jesus did, nor has anyone been more successful than him.3 We do not study the Scriptures just to be like him. We study them to know him. Jesus said in John 5:39, “You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me.”

    Let me quote Richard Foster again. “Study is a specific kind of experience in which through careful attention to reality the mind is enabled to move in a certain direction. Remember, the mind will always take on an order conforming to the order upon which it concentrates.” If that is true (and it is), let us concentrate upon the Scriptures to know Jesus better and to become more like him.

    Let’s also talk about how Jesus treated the Scriptures. We see these actions attested to in the Gospel accounts of his life and actions.

    -Jesus treated the Scriptures as historical, not fictional. He refers to the actions that occurred in the Jonah, Moses, and creation (Adam & Eve) stories. He does so in Matthew 12:38-42, Matthew 19:1-12, and Mark 10:6-7 (respectively; though He also refers to the creation/Adam & Eve as history in Matthew 19).

    -Jesus treated the Scriptures as authoritative, not suggestive. Another way we could phrase it is that he saw the Scriptures as decisive and binding. In Matthew 5:17-18, he taught, “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished.” Jesus fulfilling the Law is another big subject worthy of its own posts and books. But still we must notice Jesus’ respect for them as authoritative. Just this week, I preached on Matthew 15:1-20, in which Jesus judges the behavior and teachings of the Pharisees as a breaking of God’s commands (specifically, one of the Ten Commandments). Related to this view of the Scripture is that Christians do not believe anything that is in conflict with the Scriptures. If, for example, every person in the culture around us says, “It is good and right to hate the people that we hate,” the Christian stands up and says, “No. Jesus told us to love our neighbors and everyone is my neighbor.”

    -Jesus treated the Scriptures as rules and support for real world living. Philosophy courses all over the collegiate world read and discuss the Sermon on the Mount (or used to). Though the Sermon on the Mount declares the Kingdom of Heaven, it is largely a lot of ethical teaching, i.e., real world living. And Jesus communicated those teachings as clarifying what God had always meant. After centuries of distortion (intentional and unintentional), Jesus sets the record straight to realign the ethics of God’s people with what he had always intended. He continues to do so in other places and times. Matthew 23, for example, shows Jesus addressing the issue of showing mercy to people and tithes. He says in Mt. 23:23, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, and yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law–justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These things should have been done without neglecting the others” (emphasis added). Notice, dear reader, that Jesus does not discard the law regarding tithing. Rather, he showed that justice, mercy, and faithfulness are THE MORE IMPORTANT matters. The more important matters of what? They are the more important matters OF THE LAW! There is rich tapestry to the reality of ethical living in the Scriptures. Jesus points to the law again and again for these practices.

    -Jesus treated the coming Scriptures, which you and I call the New Testament, as further revelation on his behalf. More specifically, he believed the Apostles would speak on his behalf. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you,” John 16:12-15. He knew the Holy Spirit would work in and through certain authors to prepare, compile, write, and edit those books that became the New Testament. And he treated those writings-yet-to-come as glorifying himself and communicating God’s message.

    “This is all well and good, Adam, but how do we study?”

    Great question! Thank you for asking.

    –Read it. Regularly, systematically, carefully. Read it regularly by spending at least a few minutes reading it every day. “Intense study” takes more than a few minutes, but you have to start somewhere. When I say “systematically,” I mean pick a book of the Bible and start at chapter 1, verse 1. Don’t start a new book until you finish that one. If you are new to the Scriptures, I cannot state more strongly that you should start with the Gospel of John. If you need a print Bible and can’t afford it, contact me and I will get you one. But many free websites exist with translations you can use like the English Standard Version, the Christian Standard Bible, the New American Standard Bible, and more. Finally, when I say read it carefully, I mean we need to read it for what it is. Every book has one or more genre, cultural contexts, and other factors to ultimately account for. This part of reading the Bible is the hardest and will require that we help one another do it well. And let me encourage you with another piece of advice. If you’re just starting out, simply read it and trust it by faith. You will learn more in time. Don’t worry about becoming an “expert” first.

    Let me add, you must truly read it for yourself. I am aware of AI apps that will summarize any book you want. Not only are these apps untrustworthy from the start, it robs you of the point of reading. The point of reading the book is to best grapple with an argument, if nonfiction, or to best grapple with the themes and questions raised by the narrative, if fiction. With the Bible, reading it for yourself becomes even more important! You are reading this unique book written by God himself in order to know the truth so that you might be set free! How will you know the truth if you use AI summaries that are completely unreliable? You won’t. And the more atheistic or other unbelieving programmers and tech companies run things, the less reliable summaries will be of the Bible itself, as well as helpful Christian books like Mere Christianity. Would you have AI summarize a love note from your spouse? Would you have AI summarize what it is like to witness the birth of a child? Would you have AI summarize the weight and meaning of your presence as you sit or stand in honor of a loved one in their final moments? As Augustine heard in the garden that day, “Take up, and read.”

    –Learn about genre. Gospel, history (e.g., Acts), epistles, apocalyptic, prophetic, Law, poetry. Each one has features and flavor that are unique and will impact The Author’s meaning.

    –Learn some cultural context stuff. Sounds technical, huh. Some of these things may not seem important, but they will add flavor. Let me give you an example of a Bible study I just led. In John 8:12, Jesus identifies himself as “the light of the world.” You can read that passage and that whole Gospel and understand that statement perfectly well. No problem. And yet! If you knew about the Feast of Tabernacles they were observing at that point in the year, and if you knew about the lamps they would light in the temple as a part of that festival, and if you knew that they celebrate that feast and they light those lamps as a celebration and reminder of God’s great gracious act of leading them in the exodus from Egypt as a pillar of fire (which is, of course, a light source…), there is a richness and depth you would miss without that knowledge. Let me put it this way. You don’t want to eat boiled chicken and steamed broccoli for every meal, do you? Don’t you want more flavor, more zest? Don’t you want to experience the full richness of what you can experience, like a well-seasoned BBQ chicken thigh, or a steak cooked with butter and seasonings in a cast iron skillet? Graduate from only “the milk” to also “the meat” over time.

    –Look for and see how the Scripture connects to itself. In other words, let the Bible tell you about itself! When you are confused, be kind to yourself because you won’t understand everything on the first read. Also keep in mind that Scripture interprets Scripture. Look for prophecies pronounced, then fulfilled. Look for promises made and promises kept. Learn about and look for foreshadowing, aka typology. Some you will have to work harder for, but others are made very plain by the revelation of Jesus’ own words, or the words of the Apostles, like in the book of Hebrews tells us about Jesus being in the priesthood according to Melchizedek. That is a confusing passage at first, second, maybe even at the twentieth read. But keep looking. Don’t let go!

    –Keep navigating by the north star of Scripture that all the Scriptures speak of Jesus. You will get confused and you will have questions. Both of those things are perfectly fine. God is big enough to handle that and he has more than enough love for you to be patient with you through those times. At the same time, look for Jesus in every book of the Bible. As a long, long-time reader of the Bible, I can tell you: He’s there.

    Suggestions for reading more on this spiritual discipline:

    • The Story Retold: A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the New Testament, by G.K. Beale and Benjamin L. Gladd.
    • Grasping God’s Word, by J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays. Available in hardcover and digital.
    • How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading, by Morimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren.
    • Exegetical Fallacies, by D.A. Carson.
    • Holman Bible Atlas: A Complete Guide to the Expansive Geography of Biblical History, edited by Thomas V. Brisco.
    • Dictionary of New Testament Background, edited by Craig A. Evans and Stanley E. Porter Jr., The IVP Bible Dictionary Series. (There are others in this series relating to the Old Testament, or specifically the Gospels, for example.)

    1. All Richard Foster quotes come from his book Celebration of Discipline. It’s a short book and I cannot recommend it enough. ↩︎
    2. Side note deserving of its own blog (and many books have been written on it). The incarnation did not occur as God subtracting his divinity in order to become human. He added humanity to his deity. Philippians 2:5-11 is very helpful here, and is not the only place in Scripture that helps us understand this issue. ↩︎
    3. Matt. 16:18. ↩︎

  • An Introduction to Spiritual Disciplines

    You can become more like Jesus in your daily living.

    I don’t mean you can become divine. Rather, I mean you can fulfill God’s empowering call from Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” But we don’t seek or need a directionless transformation. We need the best direction to head towards. God also said this in Romans 8:29a, “For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…”

    To look like Jesus in our actions, priorities, and choices, and to sound like Jesus in our words and tone of voice, is a tall order. He is perfect and we are not! BUT! Christians do experience change from the old self to the new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). At the same time, Christians do not make good progress merely by accident or via passive accumulation of godly habits. No, our growth in godliness benefits and abounds as we purposefully and actively seek to become more like our Lord Jesus Christ.

    Since our growth to become more Christlike requires our active and purposeful efforts, we utilize the spiritual disciplines.

    The spiritual disciplines can be defined as “those behaviors that augment our spiritual growth and enable us to grow to spiritual maturity.”1 I would also phrase them as following Jesus in the overall style of life he chose for himself. In the rest of this post, I will cover an introduction to the spiritual disciplines, arguing for what they are at a broad level and why we need them. The end of this post will feature a suggested bibliography for further reading on the subject. Future posts will cover specific practices in detail.

    Humanity’s greatest problem has always been and continues to be a spiritual one. Sin entered the world through the choices of human beings. We perpetuate those choices, ourselves, at an early age. Sin’s infection shows itself through things like depression, addiction, anxiety, personal emptiness, consumerism, sex, violence, cultic obsession, and suicide, among other expressions.

    We must take seriously the need for human transformation. We also need to realize and utilize realistic methods of human transformation.

    Some think faith should make us different all by itself, as long as we don’t have to do anything to make it happen. It’s called the Fruit of the Spirit, so the Holy Spirit does all the work, right? Well, as with anything having to do with the lives of human beings, God chooses to work with you and through you. You ever watch Power Rangers? They have this little object called a Morpher. They hold it out after doing a little choreography, say a little something, and poof, they’re transformed into their Power Ranger gear and are ready to call down the Zords so they can save the day. God doesn’t work like that. Nor does he wave a magic wand over you like Cinderella’s fairy godmother. His hand is extended out to you. Take His hand, follow Him, and together you will change your life.

    I want to take a brief moment to comment on the Kingdom of God. It is relevant to this issue. The Kingdom of God is an ongoing spiritual presence. If your faith is in Christ, you are already in the Kingdom of God. You are already forgiven (Eph. 4:32), redeemed (Eph. 1:7), born again (1 Pet. 1:23), as well as a part of the family of God (Eph. 1:5) and a citizen in the Kingdom of Heaven (Phil. 3:20), among other descriptions. God’s presence is with you! Jesus said in the Great Commission, Mt. 28:20, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Where God is, His Kingdom is. If He is with you, then He stands alongside you, ready to empower you and encourage you as you take at least one step every day in your faith journey.

    Now that we know He is with us, we can talk about what His presence and power does for us. We must not take this gracious opportunity lightly or flippantly. Through the spiritual disciplines, you will meet with and dwell with the Triune God! That’s an amazing thing! Further, God designed human beings and how we are best to live. Jesus did it perfectly. He mastered it. Just as an apprentice worker benefits from spending time with a master craftsman, we strongly desire to spend time with Jesus to learn from Him. Spending time with Jesus changes things.

    G.K. Chesterton was a writer in the 19th-20th centuries.2 He once wrote, “Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting, as it has been found difficult and left untried.” Even as difficult as Christianity is, we love Jesus. And because we love Jesus, we set our will to resolve to be like Him whom we love.

    Jesus said many beautiful things, but I want to highlight one in particular at this point. In Matthew 11:29-30, He said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (emphasis added).

    Isn’t it so interesting that Jesus invites us to learn from Him? We all take up a yoke or burden in life. For some of us, the yoke is parental expectations. For others, it is societal expectations. Maybe it is a career goal, or a life goal like living in a certain city, or a certain style of home. Maybe the yoke is to be “free,” but eventually we find our so-called “freedom” is a shackle to meaningless or mindless consumption of Netflix, sex, or drugs. We all take up a yoke or burden. Why not trade the difficult and heavy yokes of this world for the only one that is easy and light? Joyfully, Christians make that trade. We often mess up and try to pick up the old, heavy burden. But when we repent from sin, we let it drop to the ground again, choosing to continue down the path with our loving Lord.

    Not only are you taking up a yoke in your life, one way or another, you will also learn from somebody, somewhere. If we have learned anything from the age of social media, we have learned how powerful and how easy it is for one person to influence another. A meme goes viral and suddenly middle school kids quote it ad infinitum. A young man who is really good at editing silly YouTube videos gets a new haircut and now you can’t walk through a store or mall without seeing it dozens of times. Or we see a middle-aged adult share a “life hack” or whatever that is supposed to be some health secret. (Remember the “raw water” trend that popped up for a few years around 2015-2019?) More serious examples include isolated individuals who watch social media for an incredibly unhealthy number of hours, weeks, months, or years, and decide to hurt themselves or others with some action (surgical, sociological, political, or violent) they have convinced themselves to take. My point is, you are going to learn from somebody anyway. And what you put your mind on, you become. Preachers often use the phrase, “You become what you behold,” and that is true.

    Since you are going to learn from somebody anyway, why not learn from Jesus? Why not learn from the best human being in the history of humanity? The call to learn is right there in Matthew 11:29. He wants to teach you. Will you not learn from Him?

    We can learn from Jesus by following Jesus in the overall style of life he chose for himself. He told us this in John 10:10, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

    Let’s learn from Jesus. Let’s see what HE did so we can see what to emulate.

    In the coming weeks, we will talk about individual spiritual disciplines as practices we can utilize to realistically participate in God’s plan for our transformation. The spiritual disciplines include reading the Bible and prayer, as you might expect, but they also include times of (healthy) solitude, living simply, living sacrificially, service to others, confession of sin, celebrating what God has done in your life and the lives of those around you, and worship.

    “Ours is an undisciplined age. The old disciplines are breaking down . . . Above all the discipline of divine grace is derided as legalism or is entirely unknown to a generation that is largely illiterate in the Scriptures. We need the rugged strength of Christian character that can only come from discipline.”-V. Raymond Edman

    This series of posts about the spiritual disciplines has concluded. Here are direct links to the rest of the posts:

    For further reading:3

    • Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline
    • Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
    • Mason King, Spiritual Disciplines: How to Become a Healthy Christian
    • Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
    • Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives4
    1. “What are the spiritual disciplines?” GotQuestions.org, https://www.gotquestions.org/spiritual-disciplines.html, accessed August 19, 2025. That website is a great resource. ↩︎
    2. Best known for his book Orthodoxy, which is easily available online, Amazon Kindle, in paperback, etc. ↩︎
    3. Notice I am not posting links. These are simple recommendations. I won’t be making money off of affiliate marketing with this post. Although if you’re reading this and are interested in asking me to review your book…….. 🙂 ↩︎
    4. If you only have the budget or time to read one of these, pick Foster or Willard. ↩︎

  • On the Need for Discipleship, Part 2

    For part 1, click here.

    On the Need for Discipleship, Part 2

    Today’s post covers three areas. It has a relatively broad introduction on how you can disciple another person, different and more specific than last week’s post. The next area is on how to select a person to work with. The third area is how we help people on their discipleship journey, returning to some items we discussed last week. In all, last week’s post and this week’s post collect a general introduction to our need for discipleship. Next week, we’ll pick up with a different subject.

    People really do change. Pessimists will try to deny it, but people really do change over time.

    Where do you get your hair cut? Why do you go there? Did your friend tell you about it? Did a family member start a job there, or did he or she open that business?

    Where’s your favorite place for Mexican food? Why do you go there?

    My favorite coffee shop is called Lazy Eye coffee, located in my neighborhood. It has no seating and keeps very limited hours. But they have more business there because I tell people, “Go try their coffee. Try the peanut butter latte.” My favorite Mexican food place is called La Palapa, within walking distance of my house. I love their food, especially their breakfast burritos and, if I’m willing to go nuts on calories, the Crazy Fries. I frequently recommend it to people.

    You influence people, and people influence you. That’s not a question. The question is, how will you use your influence? You may not think of yourself as a powerful person, but God has put power in you to influence people.

    A disciple of Christ disciples others by helping them to follow Christ. Is that how you’re using your influence?

    A disciple is others-oriented.

    We strategically plan to bless others in our getting up, our going out and about, how we go to church and engage the church in worship and service, etc.

    Colossians 1:28-29, “We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me.”

    This is what “others-oriented” looks like. We do not dominate people through overt demands, guilt trips, or manipulation. We work by way of self-sacrificial labor, and we do so with as much wisdom as we can get from God’s Word. In so doing, we look to please our God and our King. “Well done, thou good and faithful servant,” He will tell us.

    Discipleship is when we help one another prepare for eternity.

    Here are steps we take to help people follow Jesus.

    • Initiating. We take a step to start the conversation with a fellow believer about starting an intentional process of discipleship.
    • We need to remember that efforts to help those “outside the church” is evangelism, not discipleship. We don’t serve unbelievers well if we help them behave morally but never share with them the Gospel of Jesus Christ so they might believe and be saved. Jesus warned the Pharisees in Matthew 23:15, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make one convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as you are!” Let me urge you, Christian, FOCUS! Share the Gospel and love them. Leave the discipleship for later. Discpleship is for those “inside the church.”
    • Teaching. This piece is key! How will they believe unless they hear (Romans 10), but also how will Christians obey unless they are taught? Remember the Great Commission, which, in part, says “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” You don’t have to have the spiritual gift of teaching. You don’t even have to be comfortable teaching! But you do have to take that which has been entrusted to you (Jude 3) and pass it along to the Christians you are privileged to invest in. You (probably) won’t use a whiteboard or a laser pointer, but you do need to communicate whatever you have learned. Attributed in many places to D.T. Niles, though I am unsure of its origin, is a saying that should help the hesitant to understand you don’t need to be David Jeremiah or John Piper in order to fulfill the Great Commission of teaching God’s Word to the person you disciple. The saying is that you are one beggar telling other beggars where to find bread. The best teachers are the humble ones who know this truth. I have no doubt that God has and can and will equip you to communicate however much you have learned, even if it is only a little!
    • Correcting. I can’t tell you how many times Google Maps has put me at the wrong place. Similar names, mislabeled businesses, user error have all put me in a place I didn’t want to go. I had to get back into the app, or I had to look at my surroundings, or I needed to go to the nearest gas station and ask for directions. I needed correction! This may come as a shock, but the person you disciple is a sinner. All have sinned (Rom 3:23), and we will continue to fight the spiritual fight against our old sin nature (Eph 4:22-24) to our last day on this earth. As we sin or even as we commit amoral foolishness, we stray. We go off the path God wants to lead us down. So, we need correction to get back on track. As the discipler, you will need to speak into the life of the person you disciple, to correct when you see them stray. Be gracious. Don’t swing the hammer! Use the scalpel. Precise, intentional, only the needed cuts. And only the cuts necessary for healing. Proverbs 27:6a, “The wounds of a friend are trustworthy.” Don’t rush into this; ask the one(s) discipling you what they think you should do.
    • Modeling. The proof is in the pudding, and the visible model of Christian living is YOU! Show them how to do things! You might be surprised how encouraging it is to someone to read Scripture with you, pray with you, etc., to see and hear how you do it. When Jesus said “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you,” you’ll notice He did not tell us to “teach them all the Bible trivia I have taught you.” Discipleship is far more than head knowledge. Pray with them, show care for them and for others in a way they can see, sacrifice, patience, offer godly counsel on the things you can speak to, and refrain from commenting on the things you don’t know about. (“I don’t know” is a powerful and honest thing to say!)
    • Mutual love. Your love for them will grow, as will their love for you. Both people benefit from the discipleship! You must truly love the person you disciple. They aren’t a project, but a person.
    • Humility. We aren’t the experts. Again, each of us is a beggar, pointing another beggar to bread. Share what you do know. Be prepared to take responsibility, even when you are not at fault. You are in that discipleship relationship to serve them.

    How do we start?

    You do ultimately have to choose someone. Here are some factors to consider. Please do NOT consider this list “the checklist.” These items are simply factors that may play into your choice. You are just like me: you only have 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week. So you have to do what I do and make the best and wisest choices you can make.

    • Family member, if possible. 1 Tim 5:8 is primarily about material provision for family members, but if our greatest need is spiritual, then spiritual provision must be accounted for, too. Maybe you have a sibling or cousin willing to work with you in a discipling relationship.
    • Spiritual state. Don’t teach non-Christians to obey God’s commands. GASP! A pastor said that??? Let me explain a little. You waste your time & might confuse non-Christians about the Gospel if you teach them obedience before they believe. Share the Gospel with them, explaining it as clearly as you can. Once they believe, their obedience begins. If you’re working with a non-Christian, stay focused. Teaching a non-Christian to obey God before they put their faith in Jesus can create a very moral spiritual corpse. This is not your call to discipleship.
    • Church membership. You have a greater responsibility for members of your own church just like a person has more responsibility for their own siblings. If you don’t have a church where you are a member, join a healthy one.
    • Gender. It is wise for men to disciple men and women to disciple women. Inappropriate intimacies can come around if you spend a lot of private time with the opposite sex. It’s not that one cannot disciple the other (e.g., Priscilla & Aquila discipled Apollos; Paul discipled Lydia). It’s about wisdom navigating it.
    • Age. Don’t let someone despise you for your youth, but respect older men and women; this is biblical teaching. You certainly can and may need to disciple someone older than you. (Pastors do this every week.) However, you will typically disciple someone your age or younger.
    • Different from you. Consider what you might learn by spending time discipling someone in a different slice of life than yourself. Someone in a different mode of life, for example, like a college student, in a trade school, married or single, with kids or without, ethnicity, background, etc. Remember, both persons benefit in a discipleship relationship!
    • Teachability. You can’t teach someone who refuses to be taught. If they think they have nothing to learn, they are not ready to be discipled by you. If you think you have nothing to learn, you need to repent and become ready to learn. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (1 Pet 5:5).
    • Faithfulness to teach others. Is this someone you can see taking what they’ve learned and multiplying it out to more people? It might be hard to see right now, but it is worth considering.
    • Proximity and schedules. It is hard to disciple someone if you have no opportunity to spend time with them. Online discipleship is only worth so much. Live, in-person discipleship will carry the ball MUCH further down the field than anything else.

    In the end, there may be no best answer on who to disciple. Maybe you have two options and you can only disciple one of those people due to time constraints. Pray, ask for wisdom, get council from an older Christian, then get to work.

    The goal of discipleship is to follow Jesus better. There are two rails the help the train of discipleship move down the track.

    1. Help people understand more. As we grow in the knowledge of God in Christ, our faith and obedience can grow. Christians can’t obey what they haven’t been taught. You need to get to know God and understand more in your own life. You then teach the truth that truth. Their life is impacted by your teaching.
    2. Help people to live better. We want to live like Jesus lived. Paul said, “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your  eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us” (Phil 3:17). Spend time with your person. Be transparent with him or her. Invite them to learn from your mistakes and your successes. Don’t know where to start? Discuss last week’s sermon with them and its implications for your lives.

    You might still be confused. I encourage you to ask your person questions. So much of discipleship depends on the specific person. Interests, background, hurts, fears, hopes, etc., are unique person to person. Ask them questions like how did you become a Christian; where are you from; were your parents (and grandparents) Christians; why do you have the job that you have; what do you plan to do with your degree (if they are a college student), etc.?

    Let me share a little more sober truth with you.

    There is a cost you will have to pay. Mark 8:34 reports Jesus’ words, which we discussed in the previous post, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

    1. Discipleship will cost you time. You will need to spend time with them. You can’t disciple a person you don’t meet with. The primary focus of your time should be on God’s Word, but not necessarily the bulk of your time. You have to incorporate them into your life somehow. Meet for coffee or a meal. Invite them to eat dinner with your family. Incorporate them into a larger group, like if you regularly play disc golf or bowling or something. I once heard a quote I cannot find; I believe it is from Tim Keller. I’m going to restate it here in my own words. The strength of your friendship with this person is a bridge that will determine the weight of truth they will allow over it. In other words, the better a friendship you have with them, the better you will be able to share truth with them (and them with you!).
    2. Discipleship will cost you study. You will need to spend time studying God’s Word and other things to help you better help your person. If you’re going to share God’s Word, you have to have read it and studied it for yourself first. A starving man won’t do very well as a chef. You can do this! “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do,” Ephesians 2:10. God has already prepared you to study so you can better help others! Isn’t that amazing?
    3. Discipleship will cost you prayer. In other words, discipling others will cost you time and emotion spent in prayer for them. 1 Thess 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” We need supernatural change. God gives us power through prayer. He isn’t witholding good things when we don’t pray. Rather, He wants us to pray so we can better know Him.
    4. Discipleship will cost you love. Love makes us deny ourselves and serve others. Love initiates a discipling relationship and perseveres in that discipling relationship. Love humbly receives the criticism that comes our way. Love humbly gives of itself in a discipling relationship. Love allows us to end discipling relationships when needed. After all, what they need is not us, but God Himself. Circumstances will change, like schedules. Or they will reveal an issue in their lives that is better served by a different disciple who has experience in that area.

    In closing, if you aren’t in a discipleship relationship with an older Christian, get one! If you’re not in a church where you think that can happen, join a healthy church!

    I have been so rewarded in my discipling relationships, both by my mentors and those who allow me to disciple them. I know you will experience the same!

  • On the Need for Discipleship, Part 1

    There are no Christians who are not disciples. To be a Christian means to be a disciple.

    “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” — Matthew 28:19-20 (CSB; emphasis added)

    A disciple is a follower of Jesus Christ who is in the active, intentional process of learning to think, feel, and act like a Christian. (Reminder: the term “Christian” means “follower of Christ”.)

    What we’re talking about in this post is that we have basic needs with regards to discipleship. This is big picture stuff to introduce to you our needs as Christians. We need to pay the cost of discipleship daily. We also need to live in light of the reality of our connection!

    We need to follow Jesus as His disciples. He calls us to do exactly that. And it really does meaning something!

    Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor up through World War II. In his act of Christian rebellion against the Third Reich in Nazi Germany, he was arrested by the authorities and ultimately martyred by the Nazis. He wrote this lengthy quote in The Cost of Discipleship:

    “Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

    Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: ‘you were bought at a price,’ and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”

    Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: ‘you were bought at a price,’ and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.

    The apostle Peter received two calls from Jesus to follow him. His first call was at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, to give up his vocation and travel (which required departing from his family for long periods of time). That call is not cheap or easy.

    Peter was called a second time after Jesus’ resurrection, on the morning that Jesus fed the disciples fish. John 21 records that morning’s events. In that account, Jesus cooked the fish the disciples had caught, He restored Peter, and concluded His remarks in John 21:22 with “follow me.” Peter’s obedience to the call would result in giving all, again. Jesus said this in John 21:18-19, “‘Truly I tell you, when you were younger, you would tie your belt and walk wherever you wanted. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will tie you and carry you where you don’t want to go.’ He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God. After saying this, he told him, ‘Follow me‘” (emphasis added). Peter’s call would result in his death.1

    Jesus’ whole-life call is not limited to Peter, but extends to all believers! Mark 8:34-38,

    Calling the crowd along with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it. For what does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life? What can anyone give in exchange for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

    “Take up your cross” is a BIG call. Trusting Jesus is nothing as limited as a Sunday morning worship time, nor is it as simple and easy as registering for a political party. It is a call for all His followers to give all of themselves to all of Who He is and what He does. Jesus calls you to give 100% of yourself to Him; your time, your talents, your treasure.

    It is a call for all His followers to give all of themselves to all of Who He is and what He does.

    Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC said, “Christians are people who have real faith in Christ, and who show it by resting their hopes, fears, and lives entirely upon him.”

    Dever also remarks:

    “The Christian life is the discipled life and the discipling life. Yes, Christianity involves taking the road less traveled and hearing a different drummer. But not in the way that Frost and Thoreau meant. Christianity is not for loners or individualists. It is for a people traveling together down the narrow path that leads to life. You must follow and you must lead. You must be loved and you must love. And we love others best by helping them to follow Jesus down the pathway of life. … Christianity is personal, yes, always!—but not private. You need to be involved in the lives of others, and you need them in yours. God is the only one who doesn’t need to be taught!” (Emphasis added.)

    God’s plan for your involvement in the lives of others, and for others’ lives to be involved in yours, is the local church. If you are a Christian, you need to be in a local gathering of the body of Christ, aka the church. (I don’t necessarily mean a brick-and-mortar church building, though those are certainly helpful resources we can use to bless and benefit our faith community and our geographical communities, too.)

    Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching” (emphasis added). Notice the phrasing of continuous action? “Not neglecting.” In other words, “let us continually choose to gather together” for encouragement and provoking one another to greater heights of love and broader impacts of good works.

    Let’s back up to Genesis 2:18 for a moment. That verse says, “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.’” While this verse is primarily about marriage, it also points to a truth found all over Scripture and science: human beings are communal creatures. We weren’t meant to live life isolated in our bedrooms or living rooms, relegated to doomscrolling or watching endless screens of Netflix shows or movies. We also weren’t meant to live for ourselves, perhaps doing many activities and “to heck with everybody else”! We were meant for real connection to one another in our basic humanity (Gen 2:18). As Christians, our bonds to one another in Christ give more and eternal reasons to be connected one to another.

    Some biblical pictures of who Christians are will help us think about discipleship.

    -Co-workers with God. 1 Cor 3:9, “For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” He has brought us into the work of His Kingdom!

    -Stewards. 2 Tim 2:2, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” I’m reminded of the Parable of the Talents from Matthew 25. We have been given something to use in God’s mission to seek and to save the lost. I won’t go over the spiritual gifts of 1 Corinthians 12, et al, here. But they aren’t simply skills we have developed or deserve praise for. God gives us everything we have and we steward all of it to His glory and for His mission.

    -Soldiers. 2 Tim 2:3-4, “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of civilian life; he seeks to please the commanding officer.” There is a cost. But there is also a great goal of seeing men & women saved, and the finish line is being in Jesus’ presence for eternity. Soldiers look out for fellow soldiers.

    -Athletes. 2 Tim 2:5, “Also, if anyone competes as an athlete, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” Athletes train, strive, and agonize over mastery of their focused area. An athlete aims for excellence. The best athletes experience and utilize humility, learning, and repetition. Ultimately, the athlete does all that so he can put himself out there and give his best, leaving it all out on the field, holding nothing back.

    -Farmers. 2 Tim 2:6, “The hardworking farmer ought to be the first to get a share of the crops.” Farmers are patient workers who rely on God to give the growth. We do the work of plowing, planting, watering, cultivating, pruning, and ultimately harvesting. The best farmers, the happiest farmers, the most productive farmers all have something in common. They work together!

    –Body. Rom 12:4-5. 1 Cor 12:12f. With Christ as the head (Eph 1:22-23), we–His body–follow. We share a common and unbreakable bond through salvation and through the Holy Spirit.

    In today’s post, we covered the need and the reality of connection, as well as the cost of following Jesus. In next week’s post, we will get into influence and discipleship more specifically.

    1. Church history tells us Peter’s martyrdom was in Rome, hung on a cross. He requested of his executioners that they hang his cross upside-down since he was unworthy to die as Jesus died. This account of the specific detail regarding an upside-down cross is from a questionable source, but multiple early writers attest to Peter’s martyrdom, including his martyrdom in Rome “with a passion like that of the Lord” (Tertullian). See Clement of Rome’s Letter to the Corinthians, Dionysius of Corinth’s writings, Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History. ↩︎

  • A Warning Regarding the Watching of AI Video

    The sophistication and use of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) has risen in recent months, creating the need for serious awareness and care for anyone who plans to continue watching videos or consuming the news.

    In this blog post, I will use the term AI, but most AI that is being used is not so much a sentient intelligence as it is actually a more sophisticated form of “machine learning” (aka, ML) and “deep learning,” which are AI-related processes for learning from historical data and for mimicking human brain functions, respectively.1 When you search Google with a question, or do an image search (like with Google Lens, which launched in 2017), or have your email or Word document propose text for something, these are often largely based on machine learning or deep learning processes.

    But as you are probably aware, we now live in a world where AI videos are everywhere. They come in all stripes, from humorous videos to heartfelt messages, educational videos and satirical, “just for fun” videos made usually for friends and family, and even more than that. These videos are shared across all platforms that support videos; Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, everything has them. If you can upload a video, you can certainly upload a video created by AI via the prompts of a user.

    Many of these videos are well-intended. (Again, for humor, or just for fun, and so on.) Here’s a picture I had Google Gemini create with Veo 3. I’ve never had anything pierced, but this picture looks quite magnetic!

    Similarly, I’ve never gone skydiving, and rocket-powered jetpacks don’t even exist. Or do they?

    Let’s leave still images behind and go back to talking about video. The rise of the number of AI-generated videos means the rise in the number of AI video generators. Midjourney is well-known. Other generators include Descript, LTX Studio, Synthesia, Invideo, Runway, and many more. Runway, just to pick one example, founded in 2018 and has focused on improving the use and accessibility of AI tools. They have had 7 years to develop some impressive stuff.

    The rise in the number of AI-generated videos also means the rise of sophistication in those videos. My family and I made silly videos on WOMBO’s AI lip-sync app in 2021. The AI had difficulty working with a human face if it wasn’t centered or facing the camera directly. The movement could be relatively grainy. And the options were limited! You could pick one of a handful of songs and each song had its own head and eye movements that were fixed. You could not customize how the head bobbed or how or when the eyes looked side to side. We all had a good laugh at my wife’s childhood photo singing the chorus of “I Got You” by James Brown, not to mention a ridiculous photo of myself singing along to “Witch Doctor” by Cartoons (LINK).

    But when you take a look at recent AI videos, the movement is often very smooth or more natural than the videos made even just a year ago. The free or low-cost AI tools that produce short videos, especially those that do not do sound, can be less sophisticated, but they are still better than the 2021 WOMBO app, which seems like ancient technology to today’s users.

    Who knew Donald Trump had such smooth dance moves? Here is an AI-generated video of him as a belly dancer. Link: https://youtube.com/shorts/MeJnXo6gIC0?si=oA4g2WAyTR2tBx-Q.2

    And who couldn’t appreciate the fighting skills of a toddler sparring with a rooster? This AI-generated video even has sound. Link: https://youtube.com/shorts/Ulk4JAQ4Kyg?si=-0M1Cd09m6owPevB.3 My brother-in-law assisted me with Midjourney to create a video of me getting into a car. This video prompt was done with a still picture and a text prompt (LINK).

    Seems innocuous enough. If the picture had been taken in a parking lot, or if the text prompt were to relocate that man in the picture (me) to a parking lot, it would look even more natural.

    “So, why the warning, Adam? All these things are harmless.”

    That’s a great question, reader. Thank you for asking.

    Hold in your mind a simple thought experiment for a moment. What if the video of me getting into a car was set in a parking lot? And what if the parking lot were one in the real world, like a parking lot near Petco Park in San Diego? And what if a car had been stolen from that parking lot recently? And what if the make, model, and color of that stolen car were in the AI generator’s text prompt? And what if the end result is a video implicating me in stealing the make, model, and color of a real-world car that really was stolen from that parking lot? Finally, what if that video were submitted as “evidence” to create an arrest warrant and possible trial to prosecute me for that crime?

    What if somebody could create a video of you committing any kind of crime, like robbing a bank (Video Link)?

    Or stealing a purse (Video Link)?

    Or destroying somebody else’s property (Video Link)?

    These examples are silly, but think about what people can do and are already doing with actual malicious intent.

    What if someone deliberately tries to impersonate someone who can make decisions that impact people’s lives? Marco Rubio was impersonated in his role as the current US Secretary of State on July 3, 2025. Click this link to read the AP article about it.4

    Let’s talk about an example that is less personal. I live in California, where we suffer wildfires basically all year long. During one of the recent fires, there was a lot more media coverage and attention. In the midst of that time, a video came out of firefighters rescuing forest animals. I cannot find the original video I saw, but I found a similar one where a firefighter stands, peacefully looking down at a large rabbit he holds in his arms while huge flames destroy the forest behind them. Link: https://youtube.com/shorts/c2WikkwTjZY?si=_r2bzfWXqzAfT_Ia.5

    Now, that forest fire clip looks pretty real, doesn’t it? The rabbit looks like a rabbit. The firefighter looks like a real man. Looking closer and thinking clearly helps us, though. The behavior of both the man and the rabbit help us see that this is AI-generated.

    • No firefighter will spend time picking up a rabbit and admiring it when he could be dealing with the fire that seems to be very close to him. (Fire can move very rapidly, after all. He may be safe now, but standing in that spot could get him in big trouble if the wind changes and the fire takes over his position in a few seconds.)
    • Firefighters do not generally rescue forest animals. Their job is to fight the fire.
    • God gave forest animals the good sense to RUN from fire! They don’t hang around waiting for rescue. You might wonder if this is true due to the “deer in the headlights” phenomenon many people have seen, but animals instinctually flee from fire and smoke.
    • Even the bravest firefighter would have the training and the sense to deal with the fire, not face away from it when he is that close to it.

    You may find even more data points to show that this video is AI-generated.

    But I want you to consider how much AI video sophistication has progressed in just the last 4 years. We went from amusingly awkward WOMBO videos in 2021 to smooth videos in 2025 that convince viewers of things that never happened.

    We went from AI videos that were undeniably fake to videos that are difficult to deny as true.

    What do we do with AI videos, given how many there are and how sophisticated they are?

    1. Do not believe everything you see in online videos or photos.

    This principle is easy to use when we see something obviously silly or unreal, like a fish with the head of a kitty cat. But many people are getting deceived by AI videos. Factors that can contribute to our belief in these deceptions include (but are not limited to) failing eyesight, lack of knowledge of the truth related to that video, or our own biases.

    • Failing eyesight can happen at any age. Those of us with failing eyesight can miss the signs that a video was AI-generated. For example, a blurry face, identified as a well-known person, can be trusted by accident.
    • Lack of knowledge of the truth regarding the video occurs frequently. None of us know everything. When we watch a video that claims to show, let’s say, current events in the Middle East, we are more likely to believe whatever it shows us if we live in America, and if we rarely read or watch the news. We are more likely to believe that the reporting is accurate, the less we know about the situation.
    • Our own biases influence how we receive information. For example, if you have a favorite political party, you are more likely to believe the good things about that party’s politicians and you are more likely to believe the bad things about the other party’s politicians. This observation has been shown true countless times. We like to believe our group is mostly or only good and the other group (“the opposition”) is mostly or only bad. So if we watch a video that confirms the bias we already have for or against, we are very likely to believe it.

    I have shown you several videos that are silly, or that have a relatively poor level of sophistication (by 2025 standards). Let me show you another one. The caption at the top of the video is not relevant to my article because this warning related to AI videos is for all ages. But watch it anyway. Link: https://youtu.be/eQU70usQStw?si=xx1XXSDfKiELeTrv.6

    The reporters in that video are incredibly lifelike. So are many of the details, from how their hair blows in the wind, to the movement of water, and more. If AI video is this good now, how much better will it be 4 years from now? 10 years from now?

    There are and there will continue to be deceivers and scam artists who use AI tools, such as videos, to hurt people.

    • AI-generated videos will be used to make it look like a person committed a crime or immoral act. Posting your pictures on the internet creates the raw material that they will use to create these videos.
    • AI-generated videos will be used to falsely report on world events or national news in order to get you to vote a certain way or to turn a blind eye to the immoral or criminal activities of others.
    • AI-generated videos will be used to create p*rnography, especially false celebrity p*rnography and revenge p*rnography. I don’t want to be crass, but it is a reality to be aware of. People post selfies while on family vacations, or when getting a new haircut, etc. Sometimes, they send those pictures directly to loved ones. But when an anonymous user on the same social media platform, or when an upset ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend, decides to inflict pain on you, they can use those pictures against you. Those pictures can be used to create fake videos, referred to as “revenge p*rnography.” Yes, I am aware that such a thing is a serious crime with serious consequences. But people will do this anyway, especially if they think they can get away with it. So don’t immediately trust a news headline that says some celebrity, or someone you know, has a leaked video going around. You can no longer trust that such things are real.

    2. Do your research to find out if the thing really happened.

      If you are looking for something reporting on the truth, you need to take your time, check multiple credible sources,7 and—I would strongly recommend—you READ about that news item. A written article about the news is both easier to fact-check and easier to approach with a critical eye.

      3. Limit how many pictures you share of yourself on the internet.

      If you have posted something on the internet or texted it to someone’s phone, it is discoverable. Maybe you thought that selfie was sent in confidence to that boyfriend or girlfriend. Guess what? It is still discoverable by determined parties. The fewer pictures there are of you online, the fewer opportunities they have to try to ruin your reputation, career, family, etc.

      4. Do not upload pictures of yourself and your family to AI video generators.8

      Most, if not all, of these companies will use what you create as fuel for the machine to create new content. Related both to this point and the one before is the truth that if a service is free to use, then YOU are the product. Free services like Tik Tok, Instagram, et al, sell your data all the time. Call me a Luddite, but we need to seriously consider what we’re doing.

      5. Cultivate healthy habits in the context of a discipleship relationship.

      Put your faith in and follow Jesus Christ with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. As you do so, ask someone who is further along in the faith than you if they would work with you to help you develop healthy habits. Healthy habits will reduce or eliminate opportunity and desire to engage in the 24/7 news cycle, the emotionalism (both the heights of rage and the lows of despair) encouraged by “doomscrolling,” and more. Healthy habits include daily Bible reading and prayer, weekly worship service participation,9 as well as regular (at least once per week) service to your church and/or to those outside the church. Limit your use of the apps that give you opportunity to watch those videos, either by limiting your time spent on those apps, or by uninstalling them from your phone entirely.

      6. Help others be wise in their consumption of video content.

      Maybe you have kids or grandkids who have their first phones and, one way or another, they are consuming video content and have no idea how to do any of this. Or maybe you have parents or grandparents who are perfectly capable, but are unaware of the enormous scale of AI videos or the recent sophistication of AI videos meant to deceive them. Talk with the people in your life to help them be wise in their consumption of videos or images. I have seen multiple examples of AI-generated still pictures that claim to be photographs of historical moments “few have seen” or “nobody has seen” or even simply presented as a picture. They are black-and-white photographs, seemingly. But they are fakes put out there to get users to like, comment, subscribe/follow. Which allows those pages or users to ultimately sell you something or try to hack your account if you start messaging with them and they have a simple link they want you to click.

      I would not want you to finish reading this feeling all gloom and doom about this issue. AI tools have been helpful and will continue to be helpful in all kinds of ways. Ever started typing a search prompt in Google and had it suggest options for you, so you tap or click on it to save you a few seconds? That’s an AI-generated prompt as it guesses what you are searching. There are good and healthy ways to use AI. This article is intended to help you properly handle the bad content. It is NOT intended to scare you or warn you off from all content. If you’d like to add suggestions or thoughts on this in the comments below, I invite you to do so.

      And here’s me with a flamethrower and an unexpected ponytail (one last LINK).

      1. “What is AI?,” Cole Stryker and Eda Kavlakoglu, IBM.com, https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/artificial-intelligence (accessed July 2, 2025). ↩︎
      2. Username @shortaivideos2026 on YouTube. This blog does not necessarily endorse or recommend the content of this video creator. ↩︎
      3. Username @mindcraftai3 on YouTube. This blog does not necessarily endorse or recommend the content of this video creator. ↩︎
      4. “Impostor uses AI to impersonate Rubio and contact foreign and US officials,” Associated Press, accessed July 8, 2025: https://apnews.com/article/rubio-artificial-intelligence-impersonation-1b3cc78464404b54e63f4eba9dd4f5a9?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share. ↩︎
      5. Username @heroinlife-f20 on YouTube. This blog does not necessarily endorse or recommend the content of this video creator. ↩︎
      6. Username @krayzeeclips on YouTube. This blog does not necessarily endorse or recommend the content of this video creator. ↩︎
      7. This could be a blog post all on its own. If you want to learn more about this kind of thing, reach out to me and I’ll be happy to talk. This sort of thing is called “media literacy;” in other words, knowing how to sort through the completely false, the mixed results of true and false, and the simple facts. Statistics, for example, can be easily manipulated by the skilled propaganda writer/video creator. ↩︎
      8. “But Adam, you did that to create examples for this blog post!” Yes, I know. ↩︎
      9. I say “participation” instead of “attendance” because you should be as fully engaged in the worship service as possible, not just a passive consumer. Get in there and really sing! Really pray! Really encourage people around you! Really sacrifice your time, talents, and treasure! And more! Again, another blog post could be written about this subject. (And has been, by many before me.) ↩︎

    1. Thoughts for those who feel helpless in the wake of George Floyd’s killing

      What a year this week has been. Like many, if not all, of you, I was appalled by George Floyd’s death under the knee of that police officer. And this, on the heels of Breonna Taylor’s death, and the videos of Ahmaud Arbery’s death back in February. A compounding of sin, a compounding of death, a compounding of grief. Like many, if not all, of you, I was convicted to do something to help make our society, our country, better than it is. The question is, how do we do that? If you are like me, you’re seeing all these videos, reading all these articles, or social media posts, and you’re feeling somewhat helpless and like you don’t know what to do.

      I do not pretend to have all the answers here. I have a perspective and some suggestions, and I know at least some of what I will do in the midst of all this chaos and pain.

      Typically, I rely on a view of political involvement you could call a kind of “political quietism.” My Amish, Mennonite, and other brothers and sisters are well-acquainted with this view. If you look up that phrase, you’ll quickly discover a belief that rejects and discourages political involvement. My personal view is somewhat different. I do not believe we should just sit back and say, “That’s just the way it is.” I encourage political involvement in certain ways, but my kind of quietism is to generally encourage a narrower focus. For example, I encourage people to put their focus on local elections, local efforts, meaning to start your focus at levels like local school district, city, region, and then outward up to the national level. A bottom-to-top focus, rather than a top-to-bottom focus.

      The events of recent years, months, and this last week have challenged how I think about that view. I do not want to bind the conscience of people to act in certain ways (to protest or not to protest? Etc). My views on humanity, the church, and society lead me to begin in myself, and I would encourage that in you. One of my recent devotional readings included Jesus’s “Woes” to the Pharisees, who in that day were the experienced religious leaders who should know better. One of those Woes states, “Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside of it may also become clean” (Matt. 23:26 CSB). In the Psalms, King David wrote, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way” (Psalm 139:23-24 CSB). So, I believe if we are to make a change in this country with regard to how Americans of color are treated, we each have to begin with ourselves. In the past, I was the kind of person to say, “I’m not racist” while still holding to subconscious racist tendencies and behaviors. I confess that, in my past, I have been overly suspicious of men of color. I repented of that lack of self-introspection and that kind of racism years ago, but the events of this last week, especially, pushed me to re-examine my heart and to ask the Lord to search me and show me any offensive way in me. I think Scripture shows us that we MUST do the same. If it has been some time or if you have never asked the Lord to search your heart and show you where you need to repent, now is the time. In addition, I would add my voice to those saying that being “colorblind” is not enough. People who genuinely experience grievous treatment due to the color of their skin really do need us to act as friends on their behalf. I believe God created humanity, and that He created human beings in variety because He loves our variety, so to try to erase those differences doesn’t really deal with the racism in our midst (or in ourselves). Jeremiah 6:14 says, “They have treated my people’s brokenness superficially, claiming, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.”

      Introspection isn’t enough to make a difference. We cannot stop with our own souls and motives and methods and assume there will be peace around us. So the question for those feeling helpless, and the question for quietists like myself is, what do we do next?

      Christian ethics come from what Jesus said were the two greatest commandments, to love God, and to love neighbor. There are times when it can be unloving of us to be introspective, and then do nothing for our neighbors. This is not to say that everyone needs to make social media posts! I have been reticent to make social media posts or blog posts about many things. By now, you probably already have read about how most people do not use social media to get their minds changed, but merely to reinforce what they already believe. (I have a blog post in the works to deal with my view on how to use social media.) You and I have the most impact on the people we actually know, and the people to whom we have committed ourselves as fellow “coworkers in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 16:3) such as fellow church members or other ministry partners, but also our friends and family. I know many people who actively work with their churches and communities who don’t “live” on social media. They make real efforts, they make real changes, all without posting about it. (I am aware of the irony of my saying so here, on the internet.) I am grateful for their example and I aspire to be like them in making a better impact in real life apart from internet posts. Before we congratulate ourselves for not being “always online,” we return to introspection. Some of us post online and then do nothing about that cause in real life (aka “slacktivism”). Some of us don’t post online and also fail to act in real life. We can’t excuse either behavior in ourselves. We can’t keep acting like things will get better without our involvement at some level.

      Here is where I am at. I am an associate pastor for our church. My primary responsibility is the youth ministry. As a part of that, I minister to 7th-12th grade students, their parents/families, and I minister to and lead our youth ministry team. Outside of the changes I make in myself, and how I impact my family as their husband/father, my greatest impact is to those 7th-12th grade students, their families, and the team around me. I have to address these issues with the students and their families as I have opportunity and as I create opportunities. That is my primary target once I have dealt with myself and my family. For you, whoever is reading this, your next level of impact outside of yourself and your family is your ministry. How do you serve your church? That’s your target for pushing back the sin of racism. Take your ministry, whether volunteer or paid, as a serious priority after your relationship with God and your relationship with your family. Stop playing church and step up to really love those people and meet those needs.

      The next step is, I think, between you and God as you seek how to make a change in our society. Some will attend protests like the one set for Fresno’s city hall on May 31st at 2pm. If you attend, I urge you to attend peacefully. I believe that Christians in recent protests have intended those events to remain peaceful. Some, like this prayer gathering at the Hennepin Avenue bridge in Minneapolis (link), have remained peaceful. I do not know how exactly all these violent protests began or developed. Journalists are still gathering data on that. (I won’t comment on those potential reasons here, except to say, don’t jump to blaming “Soros” or whatever; I think it’s more than any one cause.) If you protest, be better than the officers who killed Floyd and Taylor, or the vigilantes who killed Arbery. Some of you won’t attend a protest, but maybe you’d be willing to donate to causes that will help Americans of color to build something constructive like better marriages and more mature individuals (Build a Better Us), or you can donate to causes that train people of color for Christian ministry like Gateway Seminary or Southeastern Seminary through their Kingdom Diversity initiative (Gateway; SEBTS).

      Beyond that, I think we need to build up good people to become good law enforcement officers and other relevant vocations (elected and otherwise) who can make real change in how our cities and counties do policing.

      We pray. We seek change in ourselves and our families. Then we make an impact in our ministries and in our churches to turn racism into true love for neighbor. Then we seek to support through donations and attendance in any effort you believe the Lord has called you to support. To do nothing is, truly, to do nothing. If we don’t want the violent protesting, or even the nonviolent protesting, we have to do something about the cause.

    2. May 2020

      More than 3 years since my last post has hardly been a challenge for most, I’m sure, but here we are. I wanted this blog as a discipline and practice to hone my writing, and to be able to further communicate out my podcasting work (hobby?).

      Two days ago, May 18th, 2020, I learned I was done with my Ph.D. in New Testament studies. That means this is the first week of a new era! It has been a long road to this point. Though I am disappointed at the inability to enjoy an in-person commencement in the coming days, the piece of paper will read just the same. Plus, I’ll get a chance to actually walk in a ceremony in the Fall or next Spring.

      With the dissertation off my plate, I’ll be able to do more of what I would like to do at this point: my job, for starters, plus a hobby or two, and more writing here. If you are still subscribed to this feed: hello! And thank you for forgetting to drop this inactive blog from your subscriptions, haha.

      Regarding the podcasts, they have both been on hiatus since 2018 in order to allow me to complete my primary responsibilities. Either one, or both, could come back in similar or fresh forms. If you’re unfamiliar with them, I encourage you to look up “An Oral History of the Church” and “Saints Gone Before” on your podcast app of choice or by clicking through to their pages on this site.

      I’ve had thoughts percolating on various writing projects I could try to tackle, so please stay subscribed if you might be curious about my thoughts on the intersection of faith, biblical studies, history, theology, culture, and even pop culture. Blessings to you!

    3. Podcasts Update and Query

      Podcasts Update and Query

      I haven’t written a blog post in over a month because I’ve been so focused on so many other tasks. But! I’m writing one today to let anyone who missed it know the current state of the two podcasts I co-host.

      “An Oral History of the Church” has completed it’s second volume (season). We invested an 8-part study on historiography — the philosophy and process of writing history. You can get it on iTunes, Google Play, Podbean, Player FM, Blubrry, Podcast Addict, and any other app that aggregates from those sources. You can also listen on our YouTube channel, though there are no photographs to accompany the videos like for our first volume. (To find the direct download of the first episode, CLICK HERE.)

      Volume Three comes out in July, and its focus is on the Lutheran wing of the Protestant Reformation, continuing through the end of 2017.

      “Saints Gone Before” is our audiobook podcast presenting classic texts from across the length and breadth of church history, and we’ve already released a dozen episodes! We put a new one out every Monday. If you haven’t tried it, the episode format is very simple. We introduce the text, give a brief mention of its historical context, list the source of the text, then we read it. When the text (or section of text, as the case may be) is over, we announce the next episode’s subject, give the credits and contact info, and play you out with the theme song.

      Some of my personal favorite texts so far have been The Didache (parts one and two), The Schleitheim Confession, and Martin Luther’s Concerning Christian Liberty (part one of five).

      If you already listen to Saints Gone Before, what has been your favorite text(s) so far? Do you have any suggestions for something we could read on the podcast?

    4. Saints Gone Before podcast and the Protestant Reformation

      2017 is the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. (That’s if we’re basing it on 1517, the traditionally-understood official start of the Reformation. There’s a case to be made that it started earlier, but that’s neither here nor there for the purposes of this post.)

      My last post here announced a new podcast from myself and Jonathan McCormick. It is called “Saints Gone Before,” and is available on a variety of podcast apps. You can find it on Podbean, Google Play, iTunes, Blubrry, Player FM, and any podcast app that aggregates from those (like Podcast Addict). It is an audiobook style podcast where we read Christian texts from across the history of the church. We release a new episode every Monday. The most recent episodes began our presentation of Reformation-era texts. The latest is our first text from Martin Luther, the best-known of the Protestant Reformers.

      If you have any interest in that period in history, I hope you’ll give these episodes a listen. You can either subscribe like you would with any other podcast, or you can find the full list laid out on this page of my website.

    5. New podcast announcement!

      Jonathan and I enjoyed making An Oral History of the Church so much, and we saw a significant gap in available podcasts, so we decided to launch a second one. It’s called “Saints Gone Before,” and is available on its own page (click here) or via iTunes, Google Play, Player FM, Blubrry, Podbean, and any other podcast feed that pulls from any of those sources (like Podcast Addict).

      Saints Gone Before is a weekly audiobook-style podcast in 10-20 minute episodes where we read Christian texts from across the history of the church. Some readings will be sermons, others will be letters, or hymns, or prayers, or books. It’s all the primary sources, without any of the commentary. New episodes debut every Monday morning.

      Bibliographic data is also included in case you’re interested in reading the text yourself. Some folks like to simply read it for themselves; others enjoy following along as the speaker reads it out loud.

      If you would like us to feature a particular text on the podcast, you can leave a comment on this post, hit us up on our Facebook page, or e-mail us at churchhistorypodcast (at) gmail (dot) com! We might just include it in our schedule.