Episode notes

The church we read about in the New Testament was not made strong by the celebrity of an individual superstar preacher. It was made strong by the powerful walk with God of each individual Christian, which collectively made the early church a transformative force in the world. This transformative church can live again, but it will require a paradigm shift in how we live and lead in our churches.

Check out this snippet from Chapter 7 from the audio version of our new book, He’s Not Who You Think He Is: Dropping Your Assumptions and Discovering God for Yourself, which is available on Amazon in paperback, audio, and digital formats.

References:

“I often point out that if an American were put in a time capsule in 1895 and it was opened 100 years later, there would be few things in American life that person would recognize; transportation, communications, and virtually every facet of daily life would have changed. The only American enterprise with which our latter-day Rip Van Winkle would be comfortable is our schools, since they are remarkably similar to the schools we had before the Spanish American War.”

Louis V. Gerstner, Reinventing Education: Entrepreneurship in America’s Public Schools

Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

Acts 11:19–21 NIV

The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

Acts 11:26 NIV

No one will thank you for taking care of the present if you have neglected the future.

Joel Barker, Discovering the Future: The Business of Paradigms

Built to Last, Jim Collins

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About the show

The Deep Spirituality Podcast is a show about having spiritual conversations. Join our Editor-in-Chief Russ Ewell and guests as they have candid discussions on spiritual topics ranging from faith to anxiety to vulnerability, inspiring you to go deeper in your relationship with God and have challenging and honest conversations of your own.

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