I recently addressed a gathering of church leaders about the Everlasting Gospel for Gen Z. When I finished speaking, a long line of people formed to ask questions. That wasn’t strange or unusual. What was strange was that they all asked me versions of the same exact question: How do I get my kids to look away from their phone and engage? This question has lots of layers and possible responses. I want to address one layer, which is how we engage with young people when we talk about the Bible ..read more

Who is Luke and why is he important? Luke was acquainted with and traveled with the apostle Paul. Not only did Luke travel with Paul outside the land of Israel, he also visited Israel and may have become personally acquainted with members of Jesus’s family, including his mother Mary and his brother James. Between them ..read more

I vividly remember the days of my youth living in Mississippi. On bright summers days, my friends and I spent a lot of time outside. We’d compare our shadows as the blazing sun hit our backs. We’d run, jump, and flail our arms, watching our shadows follow our precise movements. As amazing as our shadows were, they weren’t the real thing. We were. The shadow only hinted at the reality of who we were—in shape, size, and essence. In this way, our shadows served as a “type” or representation that depicted the actual person. Biblical typology is much like that childhood game of observing our shado ..read more

If you search your Bible for the phrase “Bible study,” you won’t find it.  A big part of the problem is that the word “Bible” never occurs in most English Bibles. Even if you search for just the word “study,” you won’t find quite what you’re looking for.  Some of the returnees from exile “study” the Law of Moses (Ezra 7:10; Neh 8:13). That’s a promising start. But people are also “studying” God’s works (Ps 111:2), “studying” various proverbs (Eccl 12:9), and “studying” Jewish traditions (John 7:15). And one of the most direct statements about study in Scripture is not encouraging ..read more

A few years ago during the COVID shutdowns, my ministry, which I call “Disciple Dojo,” had to pivot from a weekly lunchtime Bible study at a local restaurant to teaching via YouTube. As anyone with a YouTube channel can attest, the algorithm can be a cruel master, and one must regularly put out content if they expect their channel to ever be seen by more than one’s mother. As I was considering how to move from in-person Bible teacher to online Bible nerd, it occurred to me that in my former role as discipleship pastor at a large church, a regular part of my job had been helping connect church ..read more

The only thing taller than the Burj Khalifa is the stack of books I’m currently intending to read. I like to read. I like to read fiction, non-fiction, cookbooks, news stories, human interest pieces, jokes, and Twitter threads. I like to read the Bible, and I like to read books about the Bible. But I don’t read all these books the same way, for the same reasons, or with the same attention to detail. In reading a biography, I want a deep dive into someone’s life, find out what formed them, what made them tick, what drove them, what stopped them. I want to see how their life panned out. In read ..read more

Learning to read and study Scripture is an important part of the Christian life. And while pastors and teachers are essential gifts of Christ to his church, individual Christians should also be able to pick up any passage and read it with basic understanding and application. How do you do that? The inductive Bible study method is one reliable way. What is inductive Bible study, exactly? The inductive method is an investigative way of studying Scripture that can be used by new and seasoned students alike. It’s a powerful tool for those who want to learn how to study Scripture well. When applie ..read more

There are many good reasons to start a Bible study for men. They include growth in understanding and applying the Bible, mutually encouraging relationships, and ultimately lives pleasing to God that have an impact for his glory. In short, getting men into fellowship around Scripture has implications for what God is doing in the world—building his church and fulfilling the Great Commission. In this piece, I want to encourage you to facilitate a Bible study for men in your church or area, and then I want to show you how. Table of contents Effective Bible study for men is life-changing Men’s Bi ..read more

Formal education is ripe for innovation. Non-traditional students—parents, professionals, retirees—have new options that are achievable, affordable, and accredited for advancing their Bible study abilities. Tradition and attempted innovation For centuries the traditional university classroom model remained unchanged. The ivory tower was built upon a monastic paradigm in which students would leave their hometown and cloister themselves away at a center of learning—along with its rare and expensive collection of knowledge, its library. In the modern era, we layered on an industrial mindset: we ..read more

What does it mean to repent? If you’re not sure, how will you know if you have done it? The cost of not repenting is one you do not want to pay. If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts. (Ps 7:12–13) They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. (Rev 16:9) Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. (Luke 13:5) This article will cover: What is not repentance? What do ..read more