Racism, Identity and Our Gospel Hope

The subject of racial equality and related social injustice is one of the most pressing and important topics in our culture today. Is this a problem that’s “out there” and since it’s not affecting the majority of us today, we ignore it and hope it goes away? Is there hope for change? I believe there is, but it may not be a popular or politically correct option to take.

This week on the Everyday Disciple Podcast, I talk about racism, our identity, and how the Gospel is our only true hope. Not churchy stuff, not more Bible studies where we don’t live out what we learn in those studies. The Gospel.

In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• Some of Caesar’s own experiences with racism in his life.
• If non-people of color have a right to speak publicly on this issue.
• How identity as an Image-bearer, and seeing others the same, is crucial.
• Why being WITH and FOR those who have been treated as “less” by the culture is our best posture and plan forward.

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Family Life on a Kingdom Mission

Missional communities should be an extension of our own family life patterns and missional rhythms. Like our master, Jesus, we must lead with our lives–not just our words. Our own family on mission is at the center of everything we do and what we build.

In this episode, you’ll hear from a beautiful couple as we talk about how they’ve successfully integrated all of family life, work, and ministry into a natural lifestyle of disciple-making in community. I could not think of anyone better to illustrate the fun, the woes, the joy and the triumphs of living as a family on mission.

In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• How John and Alison started living this way as a family.
• How their unique gifts both conflict and lead them forward on mission.
• Some of the challenges that come up for them and their kids.
• How normal this lifestyle now feels and the joy they experience.

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Grief According to the Gospel

Throughout scripture, we see that God, magnified in the life of Jesus, grieves. He grieves sin and the effects of sin on humanity and our relationships. Created in God’s image, experiencing grief is part of what makes us human. But not all of us understand how to grieve and help others in their grief.

In this episode, Caesar shows how the Gospel speaks to our grief and why God has given us a wide range of emotions to draw us closer to him. If we’ll let him.

In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• The reasons for God’s grief and our own.
• Why grief is not only connected to death.
• Why our goal is not to make grief smaller or get past it quicker.
• The 5 Stages of Grief and how the Gospel speaks to each.

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Holistic Discipleship: The Gospel In Everything

Discipleship involves caring for the whole life of a person. How we steward our time, jobs, money, relationships, entertainment, health, body, etc. can all be transformed by the Gospel for God’s glory. Not just the “spiritual” things.  

In this episode, Caesar Kalinowski shows how the Gospel speaks to and transforms ALL of life, and why our disciple-making must and can be holistic. He also uncovers the reasons why our discipleship is not as holistic as it could be.

In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• The commitment Jesus had to developing his disciples holistically.
• 7 areas of life we can apply the Gospel to in our disciple-making.
• What keeps us from being more holistic disciple-makers.
• Ways to begin having a much broader view in all of this.

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Gospel Fluency Tunes Our Ear To Others’ Hearts

All of our stories–the big life stories and the smaller stories that make up our lives and relationships–offer an immediate and powerful way to listen for opportunities to speak the good news of the gospel into a person’s life and circumstances.

In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, Caesar Kalinowski talks with Terry Miller, a missionary based in Spain, on the topic of Gospel Fluency and cultivating our capacity to hear and view others’ situations through a gospel lens by engaging in Gospel Listening.

In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• The ways that our Father and Jesus were really good listeners.
• How everyone’s stories are an opportunity for speaking Good News into their lives.
• How Terry’s family uses Gospel Listening naturally as they disciple people.
• Ways to start using this practice in your own life and relationships today.

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Are Your Church Elders Really Deacons? (And Vice Versa)

A lot of men called ‘elders’ in the Church today are not functioning as biblical elders. Maybe what they are actually doing is a lot closer to the work of the deacons?

Many cling to their titles, when in fact they’re not leading God’s people by example on the only mission Jesus gave his church: making disciples.

In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, Caesar goes deep into the examples and commands in the Bible concerning the role, tone, and function of early church elders and deacons. We need a lot more of this today!

In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• Where early church elders were found and how they were appointed.
• What happened after deacons were first established in the church. Surprising!
• The living, present example our church elders should play in disciple-making.
• What to do if your elders are NOT functioning as biblical elders.

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