Augustine said that faith is “to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.”
This week, students across America take a stand at their flagpole to pray for their school choosing first to be guided by their faith this school year. See You At The Pole is Wednesday, September 28.
Alpha is a series of sessions exploring the Christian faith, typically run over eleven weeks. Each talk looks at a different question around faith and is designed to create conversation. Alpha is run all around the globe, and everyone’s welcome. It runs in cafés, churches, universities, homes, bars—you name it. No two Alphas look the same, but generally they have three key things in common: food, a talk and good conversation.
Scott joins us to give us an update on the Alpha – Green Bay classes. Learn more
Words have power. By a word you can build someone up. By a word, you can tear someone down. It’s amazing that the words we use can be a force of good or a force of evil, sometimes without even knowing it. This week, Jeff and Dave tackle the issue of bullying. And it’s bullying that is leading young teens to consider ending their life. If you’ve been bullied, you know the emotional and physical scars it can leave. Sometimes, it’s the emotional scars that are most painful.
Alpha is a series of sessions exploring the Christian faith, typically run over eleven weeks. Each talk looks at a different question around faith and is designed to create conversation. Alpha is run all around the globe, and everyone’s welcome. It runs in cafés, churches, universities, homes, bars—you name it. No two Alphas look the same, but generally they have three key things in common: food, a talk and good conversation.
Scott joins us to give us an update on the Green Bay classes starting soon. Learn more
Our second showdown is addressing our deepest appetites. Why? Because the things we want so badly are things that often aren’t good for us. Let’s face it. What I want and what God wants for me are usually polar opposites. I want to feel good and have fun at the same time. God wants me to show people who He is, which is all about character. It’s like there’s an internal battle going on that I do things I know are wrong, but do them anyway because my desires are leading me astray.
Alpha is a series of sessions exploring the Christian faith, typically run over eleven weeks. Each talk looks at a different question around faith and is designed to create conversation. Alpha is run all around the globe, and everyone’s welcome. It runs in cafés, churches, universities, homes, bars—you name it. No two Alphas look the same, but generally they have three key things in common: food, a talk and good conversation.
Scott joins us to give us an update on the Green Bay classes starting soon. Learn more
Millions of students returned to school over the past couple of weeks. In this week’s episode, Jeff and Dave unpack how to best navigate through life when it seems like it’s all a mess of chaos and change. One of the top issues we hear about coming from the chats with our live coaches centers around anxiety. If you’re feeling anxious about the new school year, take a few minutes and have a heart-to-heart with one of the amazing Coaches on our chat line. You’ll be glad you did. Then, have a listen to our conversation.
Alpha is a series of sessions exploring the Christian faith, typically run over eleven weeks. Each talk looks at a different question around faith and is designed to create conversation. Alpha is run all around the globe, and everyone’s welcome. It runs in cafés, churches, universities, homes, bars—you name it. No two Alphas look the same, but generally they have three key things in common: food, a talk and good conversation.
Scott joins us to give us an update on the Green Bay classes starting in September. Facebook event
Have you ever asked yourself, “What am I conforming my life to?” Every person who has ever walked this planet has conformed his or her life to something. It’s why we are influenced through peer pressure and the like. This week, Jeff and Dave welcome back Mike Jewel of Relational Integrity to look at the different ways we conform our life and what it will take for real transformation to take place.
Who knew that pocket monsters could be so entertaining? In a matter of a week, news headlines went from protests of the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, followed by the senseless murders of 5 Dallas law enforcement officials to… Pokémon?
Yup. It’s true.
One of the hallmarks, in my humble opinion, of my beloved Millennial Generation is its ability to display empathy for 30 seconds and completely forget something ever happened. This week, Jeff and Dave welcome back Mike Jewel of Relational Integrity to discuss how this Millennial generation could become the least greatest generation in modern history.
The term “The Greatest Generation” is the title of Tom Brokaw’s 1998 book profiling members of this generation, stemming from his attendance at the D-day 40th anniversary celebrations. In the book, Brokaw wrote, “it is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever produced.” He argued that these men and women fought not for fame and recognition, but because it was the “right thing to do.” (Source)
Here’s a response to the comments about Pokemon from Mike Dawson, missionary to the Yanomamo in Venezuela:
“It has been extremely interesting to read all the comments and especially to note the defensiveness of some of the comments (regarding the Pokemon/Bautista true story). Reminds me of the last verse in the book of Judges where it says “In those days there was no king in Israel and every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” It seems the major theme I am reading is, “It might be wrong for you, but for me, I don’t see any thing wrong with it, so it is fine for me”. That is an interesting view.
The interesting thing about this particular story was that, when I was sent the pokemon book by the church asking me to see what Bautista thought about it, it had such a low priority with me that I set it back and promptly forgot it. My wife reminded me of it weeks later and I only showed it to Bautista out of a sense of obligation to the church people back home. I did not believe there was anything to it for a minute. As far as i was concerned, it was a waste of time. That all changed when i opened a page at random and showed the picture to him, (By the way, I gave him no background at all, I did not tell him about the church questioning it or anything about it it.) I only opened the page and asked him. “What do you think of this?” His response, frankly shocked me. “Oh, I know that one, it is…” and he named it. He then went on to name the attributes of this character and he was right on every count, he listed them, just as they were listed in the book. He did that repeatedly.
I had no idea this was going to be so wide read and basically just wrote it up as Bautista was talking. One thing I did not make real clear, was, that to Bautista these characters did not just remind him of demons, he recognized that they were drawings of real beings that he had seen and known. He knew each of them by name, at least the ones he recognized. He not only knew them by name, but accurately told what their attributes were, and every attribute that he attributed to that particular character, the page on that character also had that same attribute listed. There were some in the book that he did not recognize and he admitted that it would be impossible for one shaman to have met them all. There was absolutely no doubt in my Keila’s mind, nor in my mind, nor in our son Stephen’s mind, after he reluctantly started listening, that Bautista knew what he was talking about. Again, let me make it clear, I do not claim to be an expert, but I believe Bautista was.
Not sure what else to say on this. Sad to say, Bautista passed away last week. Please believe me, I have no personal ax to grind here. I only wrote down accurately what I saw and heard personally and only did this because a church sent a book asking me to do so. You can chose (sic) to believe it or not, your choice. Once I heard Bautista describe these beings as being very dangerous to young children, I chose not to allow them in any form in my own house. satan always seeks an open door to destroy, especially our children.”
Alpha is a series of sessions exploring the Christian faith, typically run over eleven weeks. Each talk looks at a different question around faith and is designed to create conversation. Alpha is run all around the globe, and everyone’s welcome. It runs in cafés, churches, universities, homes, bars—you name it. No two Alphas look the same, but generally they have three key things in common: food, a talk and good conversation.
